Third Time's the Charm
by Captain Rika Kisuktai
Summary: After Martha leaves the Doctor on Earth, he's had it. The lonliness and heartache is too much for him, and he vows that only one more companion would be allowed on the TARDIS: Rose. Travel to parallel worlds is impossible, but that is what's so much fun.
1. Eleven

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Well, this is my Doctor Who story. My apologies if this seems a bit rushed, I wrote it in the dark at 9:30 at night. It's so funny, because I dozed off and dreamed this before I wrote it down, and the way I was dreaming was like the actual show! At the end of this chapter I could hear the theme music and the opening credits appeared. How strange is that?

Anywhos, I don't own Doctor Who. I wish I did though! David Tennant...meow...

Oh! Another thing, I based the strange man in this chapter on Jack Davenport...meow!

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The morning dawned cold and clear over the small bay. All was still except for the gentle waves lapping against the shore, and the movement inside the small manor that overlooked the rocky shallow shore.

A young woman sat at the dining room table within the manor, one hand caressing a coffee mug while the other raked at her short tangled blonde hair.

"I'm about to fall asleep sitting up Mickey. Are babies always this loud?" She mumbled to the man sitting across from her. He put a hand on hers, his brown skin contrasting against her pale skin.

"It's not so bad. You just have to block it out." He said with a smile. He recieved a glare in reply. He chuckled and sat back. Mickey blinked, and a confused look passed over his features.

"Did you-"

"Do you-"

"Sorry Rose.You go first." Mickey said, shaking his head.

"Do you think...I'l ever be happy again?"

Mickey sighed, debating on whether or not to be truthful.

"It's been almost two years. I think you should at least try. It hurts all of us to see you like this." He replied softly.

Rose nodded thoughtfully, taking another sip of coffee. She shrugged.

"Maybe I should..." She was cut by a loud knocking on the door. Mickey stood up, but Rose shook her head.

"I'll get it. I wonder who it is?" She said as she stood up.

"Maybe it's a Cyberman! At least it would give us something to do!" Mickey snickered. Rose rolled her eyes as she left the room. The knocking was getting louder and more frantic.

"Hold on, hold on! I'm coming!" Rose yelled at the front door. She pulled open the door and blinked.

Leaning against the doorway was a large man clad in a tight brown pinstripe suit and long brown coat. His sleeves were burned almost to the shoulder and were smoking, but his arms seemed free of any injury. His dark brown, almost black, hair was wild and giving off little puffs of dust when he moved. He was panting heavily and smiling.

"Can I help you?" Rose asked. The man looked up, snd she noticed his eyes were a startling bright green.

"Hello!" He said happily. His voice was deep, and had a slight cockney tinge to it.

"Hi." Rose responded.

"Do you-oh." He paused and cleared his throat. "Dear gods, my voice is deep! It's never been this deep before. That'll take some time getting used to...Sorry! Got a bit side-tracked!"

"'S all right." Rose said, taking another look at the man's clothes. The suit and coat looked so familiar, Rose could've sworn that she'd seen them before.

"Do you happen to know where a miss Rose Tyler lives? It's dreadfully important that I find her soon, because guess what? I did it! I actually did it! Can I have a hug?"

Before Rose could respond, the strange man grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hud. Rose stiffened up, unsure of what to do. A strang look passed over the man's face as he pulled out of the hug. He held Rose at arm's length and peered at her face.

"Rose? Is that you? My eyesight is so bloody blurry..." He asked, before he pressed his lips aganst hers in a passionate kiss. Rose's eyes flew open in alarm and she struggled to free one of her arms. Once she did she gave the man a good slap in the face.

He stumbled back, a happy look on his face as he placed a hand on his stinging cheek.

"Hoo-hoo! That's my Rose!"

"Who the hell are you?" Rose asked angrily, wiping the moistness from her lips. The man leaned close to her face, emerald eyes glinting in happiness.

"Do you want to know who I am Rose Tyler?"

He leaned close to her ear, voice lowering to a whisper.

"Take a few steps outside," His voice seemed to change, from deep to lighter with an accent that ranged from Mid-Scotland to East London. It was a voice that Rose knew all too well, a voice she knew with every fiber of her being that she thought she would never hear again.

He leaned over to her other ear.

"Take a step outside, and look to your left." His voice changed again, this time with a Northern accent. Rose started shaking, for the second voice belonged to a man long since gone.

"I did it..." He whispered back in the first voice, the deep drawl, and weezed a laugh before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto Rose.

She let out a yelp. The man was a lot heavier than he looked. She eased him onto the floor where he layed there, unconsious and with a smile on his face, as Mickey ran into the hallway.

"What happened? Who's he?" He asked, staring at the man on the floor.

Rose didn't answer, but simply stepped pass the man and stood outside in the cold. Her breath formed into little puffs of ice as she exhaled and slowly turned to the left. Her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat.

There, standing tall and proud like a silent sentry, was none other than the bright blue police call box known as the TARDIS.

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...You can almost hear the suspenceful music...leave a review on the way out peoples! 


	2. Explanations

Ello! I'm back. I was debating on wether or not to post this now, but I decided "What the heck? I'll do it now!" So here it is!

First, Review reviews!

**MythStar Black Dragon:** Yay! One of my first reviewers! Yes, he changed and in this chapter you shall see how!

**gaiafreedom21**: Yay! (see above) And thankee, it took me a while to put the chapter into words. I'm glad you liked it!

**Schermionie:** First reviewer! (confettii!!!!) Thank you, I like the way I wrote him too. He's funny! I just got inished watching "The Runaway Bride" episode on tv and laughed out loud when he got slapped by Donna.

And now, the story! I don't own Doctor Who, just some reeeeeally crappy VHS tape recordings of some of the episodes and the plot. MY ELEVENTH DOCTOR!!

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_Chapter 2: Explanations_

The soft light of the afternoon sun flitted through the open window and onto the bed holding the unconsious Doctor. Mickey sat next to the window, laptop on his knees and searching the web from the real Earth for any recent articles about the Doctor.

Rose and her mother stood in the doorway, conversing about what to do with him. Jackie raised an eyebrow at what her daughter had just told her.

"How do you know that he's the Doctor?"

"Mum, the TARDIS is outside. He's wearing the Doctor's clothes. He has the sonic screwdriver in his pocket, it had to be him!"

"Alright. If you say so. But how can you be sure?"

Rose cast a look at the Doctor, who was completely still except for his tired endless mutterings.

"When he told me to look outside, his voice...changed." Rose confided. Her mother blinked.

"What do you mean 'changed'?"

"His voice changed. His accent became like...the first Doctor. Northern. I would recognize it anywhere!" A tear appeared in her eye as she thought about him.

"It _has_ to be him." Rose whispered. Jackie shrugged.

"All right, I believe you. Well, I'm off to the market. Pete finished off the tea last night and your little brother needs more baby food." She said before giving Rose a kiss on the forehead and leaving her and Mickey alone with the Doctor.

Rose sat down on the edge of the bed, resting a hand on the Doctor's forehead. His skin felt scorching hot under her fingertips, but she ignored the heat and tuned in to his quiet rambles.

"...No, give him big arms Leo...No! Not all of them! They'll look like a squadren of spitfires...Nevermind, you wouldn't understand...By the by, try making that blue darker..."

As Rose listened to him argue with a non-existant artist, she began to wonder. How different would he be from the second one? The Doctor that had shown her Queen Victoria and werewolves, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and Krillitanes, the one that she had grown to love almost as much as the first Doctor?

Mickey gave a small laugh. Rose looked up from the sleeping Doctor to him.

"What's so funny?"

"I just realized that today was Christmas Eve!"

"And?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, our last Christmas Eve was spent with an unconsious Doctor too."

Rose grinned at the memory.

"Oh yeah. I stood in his place and tried to save the world with the gift of gab, but nearly got the human race enslaved!" She giggled. She looked at the Doctor again.

"...Biggest henge in the world...I don't know what a henge is, but this one's the biggest!..." He sighed, and a stream of golden smoke drifted out of his mouth. Rose's eyes widened at a sudden realization.

"Mickey! That's what he needs!"

"What?"

"Last year, he kept doing that. He kept expelling energy from the Time Vortex from his body through his mouth. When he woke up (all the way) he said all he needed was tea!"

Mickey shook his head.

"We don't _have_ any tea. Jackie said Pete finished the last of it."

Rose quickly ran through a list of options in her mind.

"Well, get him some coffee! It's the next best thing to tea!"

Mickey nodded, set his laptop down, and left the room to brew some more coffee. Rose delicately plucked a stray strand of hair from the Doctor's face. She cast a quick look at the door, and she slowly placed her head on his chest. She closed her eyes as she felt his hearts beat out a strong and steady rythem.

"Hear anything you like?"

Rose sat up quickly, and saw a small smile on the Doctor's face. She cleared her throat.

"You awake?" She asked quietly.

"For the minute. I might slip back to sleep any moment now." He sighed, opening his eyes half-way. Rose gazed at the unfocused and tired eyes. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but it died on her tounge.

"You...look good." She said instead. The Doctor turned his head in the direction of her voice.

"Am I ginger?" He asked hopefully. Rose smiled.

"Nope, still brown."

"Damn." His face fell. Rose tried again with her question.

"...How did you get here...Doctor?" Her voice faltered a bit over his name. The Doctor pulled himself into a sitting position, and turned towards Rose.

"Well, it kind of difficult to explain in words...Wait, no it isn't! I just..got tired of being alone." He shrugged with a weak laugh. Rose raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't do anything stupid, did you?" The minute the words were out of her mouth she realized how pointless the question was. Of course he did something stupid, he went and regenerated!

"I think it would classify as stupid," He mumbled sheepishly.

"What did you do?" Rose asked. The Doctor sighed.

"You want to see? I can show you my memory." He offered. Rose nodded, wondering what he ment. The Doctor placed his hands on Rose's temples, and stared into her eyes. She suppressed a shiver; to her, it felt like he was staring directly into her soul.

"Close your eyes Rose. Close your eyes, and relax." He instructed in a whisper. She did as she was told and took a cleansing breath. All was quiet, and Rose felt the tiniest bit stupid sitting there. Suddenly, the darkness started to fade and Rose was slowly pulled into the memory of the Doctor...

_I sat against the central control stand, chin resting on my chest and my eyes closed. My head was swirling with numerous thoughts and conflicting emotions. How much more? How much more of this heartache and suffering can I go through before it's too much for me? How many more friends would get left behind, die, or (even worse) choose to stay behind before I can't take it any more?_

_"No more of this," I murmered out loud, shaking my head. "No more companions, no more visitors. There's only one I would allow back on the TARDIS."_

_I pulled myself into a standing position, gave my unruly brown hair a scratch, and set to pacing. As I was searching through senarios, I felt the others in the back of my mind perk up in curiosity. _

_They were wondering the same thing I was: How would I do it? We all knew travel to parallel worlds was impossible...but then again, I've run into a lot of impossible things that became possible since I met her._

_During my ninth circut around the control room a thought struck me._

_"I gave ten years of my life to a secondary power source to get us __off__ the parallel Earth (and it barely worked). I wonder..." I jumped across the room to stand in front of the Vortex Manipulator. "It I gave, oh I don't know, an entire regeneration worth of life I wonder how long I would have there..."_

_The others became alarmed at my revelation, as did the TARDIS. I felt our telepathic link start to buzz._

_'You can't. It's not worth it.'_

_My face twisted into one of fierce pain._

_"_Everything_ is worth it for her..." I whispered. Some of the others nodded solemnly, while others were angry at my recklessness. But over the others, I felt __him__. I felt __his__ pain, __his__ hope, and __his__ approval._

_I tore open the panel to the Manipulator as plunged my arms in. I felt the pain as each and every one of the cells in my body nearly explode as the Time Vortex coursed thorugh my veins, but it was nothing compared to __our__ pain of losing her in the first place._

_"Everything for our Rose..."_

_Everything went numb as darkness swallowed me..._

Rose gasped as coldness swept through her veins. Her eyes snapped open in time to see the Doctor collapse back onto the bed. She placed a trembling hand on his cheek and noticed that it was wet with tears.

She felt a tear of her own start to slide down her face at the realization that he had _killed himself_ just to be with her again.

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Thar we go! Second chapter! Come on! Allons-y and leave a review on your way out!


	3. He's Awake and He's Naked!

Here's chapter 3! I have taken it upon myself to read other Doctor Who fics to see if I could pick up on some pointers on how to write this'un, and it has suprisingly worked.

Only one review?! Well, gaiafreedom21, all of your questions will be answered (hopefully :D)

I already have the next chapter finished, but I'm going to wait untill I get at least 3 reviews to post it. That sounds fair.

**Disclaimer:** ...Please. The only things I own are a youtube account (with over 40 Doctor Who vids), a pet rock called Steve, and the 11th Doctor (JACK DAVENPORT!!!)

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Rose was standing next to the window, staring out over Bad Wolf Bay. She was still having a bit of trouble grasping the fact that he had regenerated simply to be with her. She knew that her first Doctor would have done it, regenerated for her (he did in fact), but the second one had been much more complicated. Much more to himself, covering up what he felt inside with long rambles and a cheerful exterior.

"Rose! I've got the coffee!" Mickey ran into the room, holding a cup of steaming coffee and cutting her off from her thoughts. No sooner had he stepped foot past the doorway, the phone downstairs started ringing.

"I'll get it," Rose said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "Make sure he gets all of it!"

She ran downstairs, and into the kitchen containing the phone. She answered it.

"Hello?"

"Rose! I'm gonna be a bit late getting home." Jackie's voice sounded through the phone line.

"Why? Decided to stop by the mall?" Rose asked with a roll of her eyes.

"No, it's snowing! I'm stuck in the market, the snow's built up right against the doors! I'm gonna wait till it thaws out. See you later sweetie!" And with that, she hung up. Rose wrinkled her nose as she set the phone back on the receiver. Snow? It was the middle of summer!

There was a sudden shout from upstairs and Rose jumped. She then heard talking, and smiled. He was awake! She heard the thudding of footsteps coming down the stairs, so she turned around.

Her mouth dropped open as she saw the Doctor, and with a yelp she whirled around.

"Doctor!" She squealed, covering her eyes.

"What? What's wrong Rose? Everything alright?" The worried voice of the Doctor answered. Rose shook her head ferosiously.

"You're naked!" She exclaimed shrilly, cheeks turning red.

"Well of course I am! That suit was entirely too tight, I couldn't breathe! I never realized how _thin_ I was. In fact I think that was the thinnest I've ever been in my...lives." Came the relpy. Rose sighed.

"Doctor, you are _naked_."

There was a pause as the Doctor looked down and realized what she was saying.

"...Oh! Oh, right. Sorry! I should find some clothes. Umm...right, I reckon that the TARDIS isn't too happy with me at the moment...D'you think Pete would mind if I borrowed his clothes for a bit?"

Rose shook her head again, and the Doctor ran upstairs. She lowered her hand and had to fight a fit of giggles. She had almost forgotten how absolutely clueless he could be! She heard footsteps again.

"...Where's the room?" The embarrassed voice of the Doctor asked. "And the bathroom? I need to get rid of this ridiculous stubble of a beard."

The corners of Rose's mouth turned upwards into a smile.

"His room's on the second floor, fourth room on the right. The bathroom's down here next to the kitchen."

The Doctor ran back upstairs just as Mickey ran down.

"Rose, if you hear the Doctor, don't look at 'im! He..."

"Doesn't have any clothes on. Don't worry, I told him to borrow some of Dad's clothes." Rose finished. Mickey chuckled and sat down.

"Maybe we shouldn't have given him coffee. He's as hyper as a puppy!"

Rose nodded in agreement and sat down across from him.

"Did the Doctor say how he got here when I left?" Mickey asked. Rose shook her head.

"No. He stayed asleep." She lied. The two quietly sat in the kitchen, waiting for the Doctor to come back down.

Mickey cast a look at Rose. There was something in her that hadn't been there for almost two years. Happiness, which had disappeared after the Battle of Canary Wharf, lit up Rose's eyes. He could feel it, even now sitting across from her in the small kitchen, the joy that radiated off of her

"Come on down Doctor! I can hear you up there!" Rose shouted at the stairway, bringing Mickey out of his thoughts.

"...Do I have to? I feel (and most likely look) ridiculous!" The Doctor whined at the top of the stairs. Mickey sniggered at the high level of embarressment in his voice.

"Oh come on! It can't be _that_ bad!" Rose called back.

"I look so...common. Nonononono, that's not the right word...listless? Yes, listless. Indifferent."

"Oh stop it. It can't be worse than some of the other things you've worn in the past."

"True, true, very true..." The Doctor mumbled. There was a moment of silence before there were footsteps signaling the Doctor's decent. Rose let out a small gasp when he entered the kitchen. The Doctor was wearing a plain white teeshirt under a navy blue jacket. The shirt was snug enough to outline his abs and chest, and the jeans he picked were a perfect fit. He had on his thick, dark, geek chic sexy glasses, and was in the process of rubbing his eyes when he noticed Rose staring at him.

"I knew it. I look ridiculous..." He mumbled, slipping the sonic screwdriver into his jacket pocket. Rose shook her head slowly, still taking in his choice of clothes.

"Don't be silly. You look...fine." _In all senses of the word!_ Rose thought blissfully. The Doctor blinked.

"...Right."

"Looks a bit too modern for you though." Mickey said with a smirk. "You look normal!"

"Well, that's a shame now isn't it?" The Doctor returned sarcasticlly.

"Doctor, before you go and shave, can I ask you something?" Rose asked, coming out of her reverie.

"Of course you can Rose!" The Doctor said, face breaking into a smile.

"How long can you stay?"

The Doctor's smile faded slightly as he thought.

"Hmmm...well I reckon I did a bit of damage to the TARDIS trying to get here, so it'll take some time for her to repair herself. I'd say...at least twelve, at most twenty-four. About."

"Are you sure? Will you be able to get back to the other Earth?" Mickey asked. The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Not entirely and most likely. According to the Spatial Laws of Dimensions, the TARDIS is completely and irrefutability bound to the original universe in which it was created. So it will eventually be pulled back to the other Earth. I just don't know exactly how long it's going to take before the ole' girl is up and running." He explained.

Rose and Mickey simply stared at him. The Doctor pulled up a chair and sat down.

"So, what've you been up to?" He asked, seemingly forgetting about shaving.

"Not much. There are still a few Cyberman factories here and there that are still producing, but nothing major." Mickey said.

"Mum had her baby." Rose added. The Doctor's eyebrows raised.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Pete Jr."

"...That's it?" The Doctor seemed dissapointed. "No invasions, no aliens, nothing strange?"

"Well...Mum called before you woke up. Said she was trapped in the market because of snow build up."

"Snow build up in Norway? How is that strange?" The Doctor asked.

"Nothing. Except for the small fact that it's the middle of summer." She replied.

"Ah. Well, let's go and watch some news!" He stood up and went to leave, but his foot got caught on the chair and he fell flat on his face. He picked himself up and brushed his jacket off like nothing happened.

"Right. Where's the telly?"


	4. Let It Snow

Wow. That was pretty darn quick. I got four reviews! YAY!

**Schermionie:** Yay! You're back! I apologize. I have no life except to recieve reviews. Anyway, the reason Jackie wasn't so talkative was she had the baby with her and he needed a diaper change. Yeah...I should've put that. And the deal with the spelling mistakes is that my spell-check is a bone head and won't work correctly.

**gaiafreedom21:** Naked Doctor is _always_ funny! I meant to put hours. Twelve hours, twenty-four hours. I was in a bit of a rush 'cause my mom was bout ready to kick me off the computer (I don't know what the deal was. It was only 10:53!) And snow is always mysterious to me, because I live in a snowless land. :D

**MythStar Black Dragon:** Thank you. I agree, the naked Doctor _is_ nice. _Veeeeery_ nice.

**ILUVHOUSE:** Thanks! I guess comedy is my area of expertise.

Well, it might take a while for the next chapter. Sit tight my friends!

Disclaimer: Nope. I still don't own Doctor Who. I'm just a rabid fangirl with delusions of grandeur and a random plot. And Jack Davenport's 11th Doctor. How strange would it be if he really was going to be the next Doctor? If he was, this story would be really akward...

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Chapter 4: Snow Snow Snow_

'Breaking news: Africa recieving record amounts of snow...'

'...English Channel frozen over...'

'...Reports of abomidable snowmen all over Europe and Asia...'

"This doesn't make any sense." The Doctor declared, scratching his chin thoughtfully.His face was only a few inches away from the television set in which the trio was gathered around. He had decided to wait until after the TARDIS let him back inside before he shaved. He didn't trust earth razors too well.

"I thought aliens only existed in the other universe..." Rose mumbled to herself. The Doctor shrugged.

"Meh. Parallel Earth, parallel Space. All the aliens are still here, they're just a bit different." He sighed, rapidly changing channels with the sonic screwdriver. "If only I could see a picture of a ship or the acutal alien..."

'...I reject you reality and substi...'

'...Doctor James McCrimmon from the town of Bal...'

..._ptain_ Jack Sparrow, Savy?...'

'...new video of the ship looming over the Big Ben.'

"Here we go! Spaceship!" The Doctor grinned happily. The camera zoomed in on the side of the ship, revealing a blurry picture of a strange symbol. It was vaugely shaped like a demented rabbit.

"Hmmm...Looks like either a Sheithim War Barge, or a Teiy Civilian Transport ship." The Doctor mused.

"Well? Which one is it?" Mickey asked. The Doctor scratched his head.

" 'M not sure. There are minute differences between the two, mainly the raidiation output level and the cargo space. The only way I would know for sure is if I could get inside..Then there's the whole fact about parallel universe. It could be Flconions or Cithemns or one of other countless species. But I'm gonna put my money (if I had any) on either Sheitheim or Teiy."

"Then lets get in the TARDIS and teleport there or something! Find it out!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Gee, why didn't I think of that? Oh yes. The small fact that she locked me out! When you manage to magically unlock the door, come and get me. Idiot..."

"I am not an idiot! I'll have you know I saved this world from Lumic!" Mickey argued.

"Yes, that you did. After I told you exactly what to do!" The Doctor snapped back. Rose stepped between them.

"Boys! Stop it. We have something more important to deal with than you egos!"

Mickey huffed and left the room. The Doctor watched him leave.

"...What a diva." He mumbled as Mickey slammed the front door. Rose gave the Doctor a withering glare, and he turned his attention back to the television.

"Looks like I'm still a bit rude, and even sarcastic. I wonder what else I'm like...curious? Serious? Outgoing? Don't know...I'm hungry. No! Focus! Let's see...Sheithim War Barges have a radiation level of 67.387534 Kulns while Teiy Trasports have 12.7879234789 Kulns. So which is it?! Oh bloody hell, I forgot. Parallel universe. It could be anything..."

Rose simply stared at the Doctor, who was rambling on and on to himself. It seemed like that was one trait that he kept from his previous incarnation. She should've been glad that he still did something familiar, but she couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't talking to her. True, there was the possible threat of the snow men from outer space, but he still could've said something.

Mickey walked into the room a few moments later.

"Back so soon are you?" The Doctor asked before he could stop himself. _Yep, still rude,_He thought.

"You told me to come and get you when I magically managed to open the door."

The Doctor turned around and looked at him.

"What?"

"Well, I just opened the door." He said with a smirk. The Doctor scrambled to his feet and ran outside. Sure enough, the TARDIS doors were ajar and it was humming faintly. Rose stepped past the open mouthed Doctor and walked toward the TARDIS.

"It's good to see you again girl." She whispered, placing a hand on the woon exterior. The TARID hummed warmly under her hand. The Doctor walked closer to the open doors, only to have them slam angrily. The warmth disappeared from the machine, becoming ice cold.

"Oh come on! Are you still upset with me?" The Doctor asked unbeilvably. The TARDIS hummed once, which was translated into a yes.

"What?! I can't believe you! You wanted to come and fetch her back too!" The Doctor argued. The TARDIS buzzed angrily.

"What do you mean, you won't let me inside? What do you want me to do? Beg?" The Doctor asked. The TARDIS was silent. He put his hands on his hips.

"Are you serious?"

Once again, there was no answer. With a sigh, the Doctor dropped to his knees and scooted to the face of the TARDIS. He grabbed it in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry for destroying your vortex manipulator and regenerating against your wishes. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please, may I enter your fantabulous domain and save the planet?" The Doctor begged.

For a moment, there was only silence from the great machine as if it were thinking the choice over. Then, almost reluctantly, the doors creaked open. The Doctor grinned and ran inside, with Mickey and Rose following. Rose smiled as a wave of nostalgia washed over her in the form of the perspective overload of seeing that the inside was bigger than the outside. It felt like old times to her, watching the Doctor scramble around the control stand to press buttons and flick switches and input numbers. Just like old times...except for the fact that he looked completely different. New face, new personality. _Well, I'll just have to get used to it like I did before. I'm just glad he's back,_ She thought.

"All right old girl, let's take a quick trip to jolly ole' London!" The Doctor laughed happily, unlocking the hand break. The TARDIS shuddered violently as it dematerialized, knocking her passengers to the floor. The Doctor started laughing as he pulled himself up to a standing postition.

"Whoo! Come on girl! You can do it!" Rose shouted, pushing herself to stand and grasp the control stand. She looked at the Doctor, who's laughs had stopped. Her smile faded as she saw a pained expression on his face. There was another shudder as the TARDIS engines ground to a halt, and once again everyone was thrown to the floor. Rose raised to her knees and watched the Doctor in alarm. His mouth was open in a silent scream and his eyes were screwed shut in agony.

"Doctor!" She shouted and ran over to him. Every muscle in his body was tense and locked.

"Doctor what's wrong?" She asked, placing a hand on his forehead. The second her skin came in contact with his forehead, he relaxed. His eyes eased open.

"What's wrong?" Rose repeated.

"The tear in the vortex I came through...traveling in the TARDIS is making the rip close quicker." He explained as he sat up and rubbed his head.

"So why..."

"Why was I in pain? My body is sensitve to small things like tears and holes in universes. Not to mention that I'm still getting over regenerating. The coffee hasn't taken full effect yet. It almost reminds me of my regeneration into my Fifth incarnation..." He stopped suddenly and looked around the TARDIS.

"...We've stopped." He stated. Rose nodded.

"Yeah. What were you..."

"Well, let's go and take a look-see at where we are!" He smiled, hopping to his feet and strolling towards the door. Rose blinked at his sudden swing from serious to curious. Was this who he was going to be like from now on? He seemed even more immature than he was previously, if that was even possible. She shook her head, and looked around the room for Mickey. He was lying a few feet away.

"I'll tell you something: I really didn't miss traveling in this thing!" He moaned as Rose helped him up.

"Oi! Don't call the TARDIS a thing! She is an ancient, delicate machine and she needs tender loving care and praise! She has emotions just like you!" The Doctor scolded Mickey. His hands were on the door, ready to throw them open and march out. He started to bounce up and down on his feet like an impatient four year old. Mickey brushed himself off as he and Rose walked over to the Doctor.

"Did we make it?" Rose asked. The Doctor grinned cheekily, reminding her of her second Doctor.

"Only one way to find out. Allons-y!" He said, pulling open the doors and stepping out.

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YaY! A copy of naked!Doctor to whoever can guess the where I got the lines from the tv from! One should be so obvious, it's funny. 


	5. Sheithim and Arguments

Hello everyone! I was re-reading previous chapters and noticed something. A few things. A few BIG things. The first was concerning the time frame. Early in the story, Mickey says it's Christmas Eve. But a few paragraphs later, Rose metions that it's the middle of summer. FYI, it's christmas eve in the story.

The second error was one my mom pointed out to me. In the last chapter, I acidentally put that the TARDIS was bigger on the outside than the inside. My mom pointed out that mistake and she _doesn't even watch Doctor Who! _She still won't let me live it down...

...And you, my lovely reviewers, point out spelling and grammer mistakes while missing obvious ones! I'm not a professional author, so it's only natural I make grammer errors. Grammer isn't my point peoples! I've failed every grammer test I've taken in school. I'm not trying to be mean (quite the opposite in fact, this helps me) but it does tend to get a wee bit annoying.

...Yeah...RUBBER DUCK! I don't own Doctor Who. Just the plot, the eleventh doctor, the Sheithim, Morthanial...

**Chapter 5: Sheithim and Arguments**

The Doctor was the first to leave the TARDIS. He bounced out and looked around, eyes wide behind glasses. Rose and Mickey followed him more cautously, closing the wooden doors behind them. The Doctor peered disappiontedly up and down the dim white hallway they had landed in.

"I wonder why I always seem to land in slightly creepy hallways and/or dark dangerous allyways," the Doctor sighed, taking out his sonic screwdriver in case he would need it later.

"Maybe you just have bad luck." Mickey piped up, his breath forming mist in front of him.

"Yep, that's me. Always have a little black rain cloud hovering over my head," he replied, taking a reading off of the sonic screwdriver. "Heh. What do you know? I was right. This is a Sheithim War Barge."

"I take it that that's not a good thing, yeah?" Mickey asked. The Doctor resisted rolling his eyes.

"No, it is not a good thing. Any kind of War Barge usually isn't a good thing Rickey!"

"You know for a fact my name isn't Rickey!"

Rose leaned against the side of the TARDIS, watching the two bicker like a pair of brothers. It had been such a long time since she had heard them argue. It felt so familiar to her, the two of them arguing. An image of the first Doctor floated through her mind, his blue eyes sparkling with a rare moment of happiness. She quickly put it out of her head. He was never coming back, just as the previous Doctor wasn't coming back. She had to focus on what was now and not about the past.

_It's all a bit of Hakuna Matata_, Rose thought. She noticed the Doctor and Mickey staring at her.

"What?" She asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable under their gazes. The Doctor shook his head as he took a quick reading from the sonic screwdriver.

"Hm. I thought it was chilly. It's 54 degrees Fahrenheit in here,"

"Why is it so cold?" Rose asked, her teeth starting to chatter. The Doctor shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her as he explained.

"Well, the Sheithim inhabit an ice covered planet in the Lopgin galaxy. They can't survive in high temperatures. Their ships are designed to keep the temperatures down to habitable levels. If there was any rise in heat they would know..." The Doctor frowned as he finished. Rose could imagine the wheels turning in his head as he realized what he had just said. He let out a small stream of alien curses, which the TARDIS took upon herself _not_ to translate to english.

"Follow me!" He said, turning and jogging down the hallway. Mickey and Rose followed him.

"What? What's wrong?" Mickey asked when they caught up to him. The Doctor groaned.

"Nothing, except for the fact that humans generate a higher body temperature than 54 degrees! If we stay here any longer, we'll get captured as prisoners." He shouted over his shoulder, looking at the many doorways that they were passing by.

"What about the TARDIS? Are we just going to leave it?" Rose asked, looking over her shoulder at the lonely blue box.

"We'll come back later for it. She only has about enough energy for one more trip back to Norway, and then I have to get back to Cardiff in the other universe to recharge," he replied quickly.

The Doctor suddenly skidded to a halt, causing the others to nearly run into him. He blinked, and backed up a few steps. He stopped in front of a door and stared at black writings over the handle.

"Oh no. That isn't good. Not good at all," He mumbled. Rose looked at him with alarm.

"What do you mean? What's wrong?"

"Well, remember the time we met the werewolf? How much trouble we got in?"

Rose nodded.

"Well, add that level of trouble to the amount of trouble we had with the Sycorax and the Nestene Consiousness combined," he sighed, starting to walk away again.

"_That _much trouble? Why?" Rose asked. The Doctor pointed to a crest painted on the wall. It was the same that they had seen on the television set on the outside of the spacecraft: A black skeletal rabbit head surrounded by thin spikes.

"That is the crest of the High Lord Morthanial of the Upper Lio Mountain. Also known as 'The Bloody Yeti', she's a right fright to meet. Ha! Right fright! I rhymed! I wonder how she's been...the last time I saw her she was but a wee tot."

"Doctor, what are we going to do? What's the plan?" Mickey asked. The Doctor stopped walking again. He scratched his head as he turned to look at his two friends.

"Plan? You should know by now that I never have a plan. I always make it up as I go along," the Doctor smiled. "It's more fun that way."

The long white hallway was eerily silent, with the exception of the hollow echoes of the trio's footsteps. Door by door by door they passed, all off white and all with the same black markings above the door. Every few minutes they passed another black crest painted carefully on the wall. The further they walked, the colder it seemed to get. The Doctor said it was because they must be nearing the main chamber.

Rose wasn't too interested in the cold hallway, or even the faint sound of something dwelling behind the doors. She was more interested in watching the Doctor, trying to see if she could spot any peculiar habits. So far she had learned two things. The first was this: the new Doctor was none too graceful. Evey few steps he stumbled, then cursed his new heavier frame angrily to himself. The second thing she noticed was that he talked to himself. A lot. It wasn't the old "talk to self to figure out why something was happening when it shouldn't" kind of thing. It was more of "talk to self and hold a conversation." She didn't really think too much of it at first, but when he started arguing with himself she wondered if he had lost it for a moment.

"What I want to know is why Morthanial is here," the Doctor mumbled to himself.

_Why are you thinking about that? You should be speaking with Rose, telling her all the things you couldn't say to her after you lost her! You should be snogging her face off!_ A voice in his head scolded.

"Oh shut up Eight. I don't need your help."

_I wonder if Four still has some Jelly Babies left... _Eight mused.

_Eight is right. Not about the snogging thing, but about telling her. I didn't die just for you to blow it off!_ Another voice jumped into the conversation, this one with a slight english/scottish accent.

"So you finally got settled in Ten?"

_If you can call it that. Nine tried to strangle me the moment I appeared._

_I have good reason to, you bastard! You nearly got Rose killed, and then left her in a parallel world!_ A voice with a northern accent yelled.

"You know Nine, if you call him a bastard you're calling yourself a bastard too," the Doctor said.

_Yeah! So shut your mouth!_ Ten blew a raspberry at Nine. The Doctor rolled his eyes as he heard Nine try to strangle Ten again.

_And anyways Nine, you got her into loads of dangerous situations too. Daleks, Gelth, Reapers, and Slitheen just to name a few,_ Eight piped up.

"He's right you know. Not to mention the whole end of the world incident," the Doctor added.

It went on like that for a little while longer, the Doctor arguing with himself. Rose and Mickey didn't question him (they didn't feel a need to interupt his conversation), but simply followed him deeper and deeper into the ship. Just when they thought that the corridors would go on forever, they arrived at a dead end. The Doctor gulped as he stared at the white wall.

_Just turn away. It's over. You have her back, it won't happen again. Turn away._

_Torchwood is gone. Jack's in charge, it won't happen._

_Oh bloody hell, are you serious? You're scared of a wall?_

_Shut your gob Six._

_I will when you shut yours Four!_

"Both of you shut it!" The Doctor hissed to himself as he turned around. He smiled when he saw Rose and Mickey staring at him. He gave a little wave.

"Hello! Dead end," he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the wall. "I was sure we were going to run into a door sooner or later. You know, a door that might actually _lead _us somewhere instead of soldier rooms. They need a bloody map 'round here..."

The Doctor's eyes widened suddenly.

"Hello!" He waved to something behind Rose and Mickey. They turned around to see what the Doctor was waving at, and saw what could only be what the Doctor called a "Sheithim." It was a large humanoid creature, almost seven feet tall. It's head was shaped like a rabbit, complete with a twitching nose and large ears that stood rigidly upright. It's body was covered in snow white fur, and it was wearing leather armor over it's arms and chest. It's legs were long and thin, looking very much like a rabbit's back legs. It's thick arms were holding aloft a large double sided ax whose blades glinted in the light.

"State your name and your buisness aboard the High Lord's ship!" It asked in a deep gravely voice, raising it's ax a little higher and establishing it's grip on the hilt. The Doctor grinned and stepped forward.

"Hello! Just looking around. I'm afraid that we're lost. Have you seen a blue police box? 'Bout this high?" He raised his hand over his head.

"You are tresspassers aboard this ship. You will be brought in front of High Lord Morthanial, and you shall see our might and tremble!"

"I see your might. Where's your tremble?" the Doctor asked. The Sheithim simply blinked at the Doctor. The Doctor placed a hand on the side of his face with a look of mock horror.

"Oh no! We're prisoners of creatures with no sense of humor!"

The alien glared at him, before standing aside.

"You will follow me to the Chamber of Morthanial." It said, starting to walk off. The Doctor looked at his two friends and nodded after the Sheithim.

"We might as well follow the big boy. We might learn something," he said, starting to walk after the Sheithim. Rose and Mickey gave each other a nervous glance, and proceeded to follow the Doctor. They followed him down the brightly lit corridors, through twists and turns and doors and some _more_ hallways.

"Hallways, hallways, always hallways..." the Doctor mused to himself. He turned his attention from the hallways to the Sheithim. He was a magnificent specimen, a great representitive of his species, but there was a big bright problem that the Doctor noticed. Even though the creature had muscles, he was a bit too thin to be considered healthy. One could even say that he was in a state of early starvation.

"Halt."

The Doctor and his companions stopped and the Sheithim turned around.

"You will approach the High Lord Morthanial in respect. You will not make eye contact unless told so by her Highness. Do I make myself clear?"

"In-escapably clear." the Doctor smiled. The Shiethim narrowed his eyes and opened the door. The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey entered a large room with a dome ceiling and shallow bowl floor. It (like the rest of the ship) was a nearly blinding white color, and the walls were lined with Sheithim. Old, young, male, female, all were huddled together in groups. The Doctor's hearts ached to see that all of them, even the young ones, suffering from various degrees of malnutririon.

"Doctor..." Rose whispered, tears starting to appear in her eyes. The Doctor swallowed dryly.

"I know," he whispered back.

They were suddenly shoved to their knees by Sheithim guards.

"You will grovel before the High Lord Morthanial of Upper Lio Mountain!" One commanded loudly. Rose and Mickey glanced at the Doctor helplessly.

"Grovel? How do you grovel?" Mickey asked. The Doctor sighed and decided to play it dumb.

"We don't know how. I mean, you know, different folks, different customs. Maybe you could show us."

The guards looked at one another. Then the one who had told them to grovel said, "You may grovel in the style of your own people. Grovel as you would normally grovel!"

There was a sly gleam in the Doctor's eye as he looked at Rose and Mickey.

"You heard the man. Let us grovel."

He scooted his legs forward, lay on his back, stuck his hands behind his head, and relaxed like he was at the beach soaking up some sun. Rose and Mickey quickly followed suit.

"I grovel before the mighty Sheithim lord (or lady, never really found out the answer), most mighty of mighty, undisputed champion of the world in the lettuce eating category! We grovel like the pitiful buggers we are! We grovel like a Barladootkaliumpetekshus Beast hiding in a stump with a Slitheen hunting party surounding it pleading for it's life, that's how much we grovel! Rickey, Rose, you two can join in any time, you know."

"We grovel...um, like grovelers."

"My name isn't Rickey!"

The Doctor turned his head and shot them disdainful looks. "Oh, good groveling. Put some feeling into it!"

"I grovel like, uh...like a person who is really groveling." Mickey said lamely.

"O mighty Morthanial, you would not _believe_ the depths of our grovelry! We grovel like Carrionites with duct tape over our mouths! We grovel-"

"Enough!" A strong, musical voice rang out over the room. The Doctor stopped, and hid a smile on his face.

"Arise." The voice commanded. The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey obliged and stood up. They laid eyes on the High Lord Morthanial. She was a sight to see. She had light silver fur, and was wearing long white robes lined in blood red silk. Inticate black marking adorned her thin face and ears, giving her a firece appearence. On her head was placed a black crown with two spiraled horns rising out the top.

She gave the Doctor a measuring look. He gave her a smile in return.

"You do not seem scared. Why is that?" She asked. The Doctor chuckled.

"With all due respect madame, I have seen much more frightening things than yourself in my life," he said. Morthanial stood up. As she did, the guards knelt as a sign of respect. She stood face to face with the Doctor, gazing into his eyes.

"Tell me sir, what is your name? Your scent is faintly familiar, but I cannot place it."

"I'm the Doctor. It's nice to see you again Morthanial, you've grown!" He said. Her black eyes widened in suprize.

"You cannot be! The Doctor is an elder Time Lord from Gallifrey! All of the Time Lords were killed in the Time War."

The Doctor grabbed her paw-like hand (causing the guards to stand up and move closer) and placed it on his chest, first on the left side and then on his right. Morthanial took her hand off of his chest and backed up a few steps.

"All of them except for me." the Doctor said sadly.


	6. For The Planet?

Here's chapter six. Six! Already! Wow! 

I apologise for my rudeness in the last author's note. That's me, rude and not ginger. _sigh..._

**Jessica:** ...WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN!...(whistles happily to self)

**NewDrWhoFan:** He takes arguing with himself to a whole new level! Ya just _know_ that's the reasonwhy the later Doctors are prone to zone out.

**Skandragon Blackheart:** He does kinda grow on you, doesn't he? And you were right with the guessing of the tv shows. Congrats!

**Adalene Dubois:** New reader! Yay! (huggles) I get the feeling I might just be brilliant...Thank you! 

Yeah...I don't own Doctor Who, except within the few hours of sleep at night I get...I do own the Shiethim and Morthanial. And my version of the Eleventh Doctor.

Allons-y!

**Chapter Six: Catching Up**

Morthanial led them to her sleeping quarters, which doubled as a meeting room with her advisors. The walls were lined with withered brown pelts and gleaming white animal skulls. Rose took a step closer to the Doctor, who wrinkled his nose in distaste at the decor.

"I forgot how savage your people are Morthanial," The Doctor said, peering at one of the skulls. "This one is a Sycorax skull isn't it?"

Morthanial chuckled as she sat down in a fur lined nest.

"Yes, it is. The year before my leadership began, they invaded. Well, they tried to. My warriors were too fierce for them."

"How long have you been here?" the Doctor asked, adjusting his glasses as he looked at her.

"Not only that, but how did you manage to shield it from Torchwood?" Mickey stepped forward and asked. As the head of Parallel Torchwood, this was something he needed to know. Morthanial fixed him with a dark glare.

"Our technology is centuries ahead of your pitiful planet. Do you honestly think that your torched wood could detect us?"

Mickey opened his mouth to argue, but he fell silent with a look from the Doctor. 

"Your're still too young to begin invading other planets, you're only about thirteen years old. What happened to Iycth?" He asked. Morthanial's eye clouded over in pain.

"...The Time War."

The Doctor's hearts jumped to his throat, as they always did when the War was mentioned. His chest felt like it was tightening, constricting his ability to breathe. Rose slipped her hand into his and gave a comforting squeeze. He gave a small smile and squeezed back.

"What happened?" Rose asked softly. Morthanial gave her a look, not entirely sure why she was asking, but then she caught sight of the Doctor's hand entwined with Rose's hand.

"The Lopgin Galaxy was one of the first that the Daleks ravaged. One by one, the planets were left barren and burning. Then they arrived on Iycth. They appeared in the lower valleys and moved upwards, slaughtering all Sheithim in their sights...We could smell the blood before we sighted them. By the time they reached Lio Mountain we had fled..." Morthanial's voice wavered, and for a moment she looked like the young child she really was.

"I saw it," she whispered, tears appearing in her eyes, "Iycth was burning in space, crumbling into rocks and dust. It was..." She started to sob. The Doctor frowned sadly. He let go of Rose's hand and sat next to Morthanial. He pulled the young queen into his arms, slowly rocking her back and forth while humming softly in an attempt to comfort her. Rose stood next to Mickey, tears of her own in her eyes. Morthanial was so young, and she had already been put through the horrors of war. Her entire planet had been destroyed, and the majority of her race was slain mercilessly.

"I'm sorry, so sorry. You're going to be alright. We'll find you and the others someplace to live," the Doctor looked pointedly at Mickey as he said this. 

_Just when I didn't have enough on my plate dealing with the Cybermen factories and paperwork, now I have to __relocate __aliens..._Mickey thought with an audible sigh. 

"That still doesn't explain how you got here." Mickey said. Morthanial sniffed and straightened up.

"After the War, we drifted through space. My parents died soon after we took to the skies. I had to encourage my people not to give up. Not to give up, even as they were starving and dying. Not to lose hope of finding somewhere to live, even though I had lost hope long before." She gave weak laugh. "We were nearing Sol 3, when a tear in the fabric of the universe opened up. The power of it sucked us through, and we ended up here."

The Doctor looked at Rose and Mickey with a look of faint embaressment. He mouthed the word 'Sorry.' Mickey gave a sigh and shook his head at the sheepish look on the Doctor's face.

"Torchwood will be able to relocate you. It might take a while..."

Morthanial stood up and stomped over to Mickey, nose flaring angrily.

"The Sheithim don't need the help of humans! We will find our own way to survive!" She jabbed her finger into his chest with every word of the last sentence. The Doctor stood up and spun Morthanial around to face him. 

"You won't survive without their help! If you choose to invade you'll be slaughtered, and if you wait any longer you and the others will starve!"

Morthanial regarded him cooly, and calmly removed his hands.

"Thank you for your concern Doctor, but I think I know what's best for my people."

"But that's just it! You _don't_ know!" the Doctor groaned. Then a grin broke onto his face. "Oh, this is great."

The others blinked.

"What is great?" Morthanial asked, eyes narrowing. The Doctor sat back down on the nest of furs, crossing his legs and still smiling.

"Oh nothing. Continue on with what you were going to do," he said with a wave of his hand. Morthanial snorted.

"Very well. I will take this world by force!"

"Alright."

"Doctor!" Rose gasped, moving closer. The Doctor said nothing, just kept looking at Morthanial with a plesent smile on his face. Morthanial's lip twitched a bit.

"Fine. Come with me to the great hall, and you can watch the invasion of your planet." She said, storming out of the room. Mickey walked over to the Doctor.

"What was that about? Are you out of your mind?" Mickey asked angrily. The Doctor's grin widened.

"Which mind? I've got eleven of them Rickey, be more specific please." he said plesently. Mickey rolled his eyes and turned away. The Doctor gave a sigh and stood up.

"I swear that all females, no matter what species, have major mood swings at the drop of a hat," he mused, earning a look from Rose. He gave a shrug, "Might as well follow Morthanial. She might decide that we, oh I don't know, are worthy enough to become her slaves..."

Rose noticed a troubled note in his voice, a note that she remembered usually preceding something bad happening. She was about to ask him about it, but he walked off. She looked at Mickey, who was giving the Doctor a small glare.

"I'm starting to dislike that man. I swear, if he calls me Rickey once more..."

"Oh stop it. You know you missed him too." Rose said, giving Mickey a friendly shove. He rolled his eyes again.

"Oi! You two going to stand there talking about me behind my back, or are you going to come with me and watch Morthanial try to invade a parallel world?" the Doctor shouted from the doorway. Rose and Mickey hurried after him.

"Aren't you going to try and stop her?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, or are you going to let me do my job?" Mickey added.

The Doctor said nothing, but there was a slight look of annoyance on his face.

_You really shouldn't do this._

_Shut up Ten. I don't want to hear it,_ the Doctor thought. He heard a small sigh.

_I agree. You shouldn't do this Eleven. It's not right._

_Wow, you agree with me Nine? That's a first. You've pretty hated my guts since the whole "Girl in the Fireplace" episode._

_This'll be the only time I agree with you Ten, so enjoy it._

_Hmph. Never realized what a jerk I was..._

_Both of you, shut it. I know what I'm doing._

We_ know what _we_ are doing,_ Nine said.

_The pronouns are a pain, aren't they?_ Ten chipped in.

_Does killing all of you count as homicide or suicide?_

_Tsk tsk. I never would have thought I would get more immature as I got older..._

_Ah, shut it One,_ the Doctor sighed.

_...I still don't think you should do it._

And it went on, going in circles in his head, all the way to the great hall where Morthanial was seated on her throne. The other Sheithim gathered around her, while the guards stood at the door watching the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey closely.

Morthanial stood up.

"My people...it is time. We have been without a home to call our own since the Daleks destroyed Iycth. And now, I have found a planet to inhabit! The inhabitants are slow and stupid ("Hmph!" Mickey snorted.), and by the time they realize what has happened, they will be our slaves!"

"Can someone say 'over-dramatic'?" the Doctor asked in a loud stage whisper. Rose snickered a bit, and they earned a ticked off look from all of the Sheithim.

"Now, I shall send the warriors and..."

_Don't let her do it!_

_Stop her!_

_If you don't, you'll never hear the end of it!_

"Excuse me?" the Doctor raised his hand as if he was asking a question. "Can I ask you something?"

Morthanial glared at him. "No."

"Oh, but you know you want to hear what I have to ask." the Doctor grinned, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets and rocking side to side. Morthanial stared at him, clearly wanting to ask. But, since she was stubborn, she stood there, biting her tounge and staring at him. The Doctor's green eyes glittered brightly in amusement.

_Well, she's stubborn. I'll give her that, she's very stubborn._

"All right. If you're not going to ask, I'll tell you."

"Tell me what Doctor?" Morthanial asked, keeping her voice level.

"Tell you that I challenge you according to the Sanctified Rules of Combat. As a leader of your people, you can't refuse my challenge. You up for a one-on-one with Earth's champion? Or are you a _kalak pel kasa kree salvak?_"

Murmers from the Sheithim arose, but Morthanial silenced them with a raise of her paw. A cold smile lit her face.

"Very well."

"Rose, hold my sonic screwdriver." the Doctor held it out for Rose to take. She pocketed it in the Doctor's jacket she was still wearing. 

The Sheithim backed away from the center of the room, allowing Morthanial room to manouver. She removed her robes to reveal close-fitting black armour. She lifted her hand, and a guard placed a large double sided sythe in her hands. She gripped it tightly and held the blades at eye level.

The Doctor raised his own hand and waited for a sythe to be handed to him. Instead, one was thrown to his feet. He gave a sigh and picked it up. The two of them knelt and locked eyes.

"For the planet?" Morthanial asked.

"For the planet." he agreed with a smile. They stood up and gripped their sythes. They started to circle each other, both keeping a careful eye on each other. Morthanial moved with liquid grace, tracking the Doctor's every move. The Doctor was still getting used to his new body however, and kept stumbling every few steps.

"Hey Morthanial? What happens when I win?" the Doctor asked.

"If you win, I will allow your Torchwood to find a habitat. IF you win, which I rather doubt."

"If is a very powerful word," the Doctor chuckled. "Is this to the death or first blood?"

"I don't see any point in killing you Doctor, considering that you are an endangered species."

"Ah, so the pot calls the kettle black."

_Bloody hell, she's bi-polar! Maybe if I can just prolong this, she'll give up..._

"Well? Are you going to strike?" Morthanial asked, laughter in her voice. The Doctor took a small bow.

"Ladies first."

Morthanial lept across the room with her long legs and swung her sythe at the Doctor. He lifted his sythe as she brought hers down. The impact forced the Doctor back a step, and Morthanial swung again. The Doctor ducked and started walking backwards, talking as he did so.

"Do you know who the pagens were? Great people, early tranvestites, really knew how to party! And they built Stonehenge!" he sidestepped as Morthanial's sythe came dangerously close to his head, "It was, and still is, the biggest henge on Earth! No humans have built a henge like it ever since, for the simple fact no one knows-" he ducked again, "-what a henge is!"

"Cease your talking and fight!" Morthanial snarled angrily. This only prompted the Doctor to smile wider.

"Before Stonehenge," he continued, "there was Woodhenge and Strawhenge. But a big bad wolf came, and three little piggies were relocated to the projects."

They locked sythes and the Doctor blew a kiss to Morthanial. She growled and pushed him away. As he was straightening up, she delivered a powerful kick to his chest. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, and he fell to the ground flat on his back. Morthanial swung her sythe casually as she strode up to the Doctor, who was sprawled on the floor.

"It looks like this planet is min Doctor!" she shouted as she raised her sythe. Suddenly, the Doctor was up and ramming his shoulder into Morthanial's stoumach.She gasped as she stumbled backwards. The Doctor stood up, and knocked her sythe out of her hands in one fluid motion. He smashed the wooden handle of his sythe into Morthanial's face. Then he pushed her up against a wall, using the wooden hilt to lift her a few inches above the ground. 

Fear was shining in Morthanial's eyes as she struggled for air. The Doctor leaned in close to her face...

...and gingerly placed a kiss on her borken and bleeding nose.

"I win."


	7. Cleaning Up

Hey peoples! Sorry for the long delay. My internet's being a kalak pel kasa kree salvak (mainly this site. For some unknown reason, it's not letting me edit my documents & bio on my computer), and I'm starting to get really ticked off at it. I started ranting to myself outloud the other day and scared myself a bit. I've gotta use a different computer now...RAWR.

Anyways...reviews!

**tiamat100:** Thank you! I _am_ brilliant, aren't I? I'm modest too...

**NewDrWhoFan:** I can't credit myself with the nice Stonehenge speech, that's Eddie Izzard's. But I luv him so much I had to add something!

**Skandragon Blackheart:** It's fun having them argue. The next chapter, they _really_ start to go at it. But you've gotta wait!

**Erikstrulove:** I've read my share of uncanon Doctor's, and I've gotton tired of them doing...un-Doctorish stuffs. And yes, I have to agree, EVERYONE loves a clueless naked Doctor! Also, new reader! YaY!

**Adalene Dubois:** So glad you liked it! I'm not sure I personally liked it too much (except for the Eddie that the Doctor spouts off in the middle of the fight), but the next chapter is more funner!

Alright. Once more. I don't own Doctor Who. I don't even live in the UK. One day though...The next chapter is finished, so I'm going to wait until I get at least 5 reviews. That sound good to you? Yes? Alright!

Allons-y!!

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Cleaning Up**

The Doctor stood in the quiet TARDIS, idly adjusting co-ordinates for Jackie's house in Norway while Rose said good-bye to Mickey. As he powered the machine up, he vaguely considered leaving the moment Rose set foot in the TARDIS for the right universe. He dismissed it, even though he could hear his ninth and tenth selves telling him to go for it.

He was absently scratching his face when Rose came back. She stood in the doorway and watched him work the control panel. She had dreamed about seeing him again, and there he was. Different body, different personality, but the same person at heart. Or hearts.

"Are you just going to stand there, or come over here and help me?" the Doctor asked playfully. She ran over to him and grabbed him in a tight hug. His eyes widened in surprise and he opened his mouth to allow a joke to come through, but it snapped shut when he realized that tears were soaking his shirt. Rose was crying.

"I missed you so much Doctor. Every day I've thought about you, I've cried about you. I-"

The Doctor put a finger on her lips to quiet her. He gave a warm smile and kissed her. She closed her lips and leaned into it, enjoying the feel of his firm lips on hers. There they stood, reveling in the moment and oblivious to everything else.

The TARDIS hummed warmly as it started the trip to Norway. The Doctor pulled back a bit and grinned widely.

"I think it's about time I say this. Rose Tyler, I lo-"

There was a violent shudder, knocking the pair to the ground. Rose jumped up before the Doctor did and hopped over to the doors.

"I'm fine! I think one of my hearts just stopped for a bit, causing me agonizing pain. But don't worry about me!" the Doctor groaned as he stood up a few minutes later. He walked over and joined Rose at the open TARDIS doors. Snow was lazily drifting to the ground outside.

"This...isn't my mum's house. It's about a mile or two away." Rose observed. The Doctor gave a sigh and scratched his chin.

"I'm not going to risk another trip in the TARDIS for a few miles. It won't hurt us to walk," he said with a shrug. "Although, you may want to get a thicker coat. You remember where the wardrobe is?"

"First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on my left. What about you?"

"All I'll need is a scarf." he replied.

_Well, you could use mine, but SOMEBODY unraveled it!_

_Oh stop it Four. It wasn't my fault. I was a bit out of it._

_You still unraveled it Five! Madame Nostradamus made it for me, and you went and unraveled it!_

_Stop arguing. I went and it repaired, remember?_

_...I forgot about that Eight. That still doesn't change the fact..._

They stood there for a few more minutes in silence before Rose headed for the wardrobe. The Doctor waited until she was well out of earshot before he turned to the TARDIS consol.

"What the hell was that about? We were having a moment! A _nice_ moment!"

The TARDIS buzzed, sounding a bit annoyed. The Doctor scoffed.

"It's not your fault? Then who's is it? It's certainly not mine!"

The TARDIS let out a series of beeps and buzzes, growing more angry near the end. The Doctor rolled his eyes and left the consol room. He took the shortcut up the stairs to the large wardrobe. He carefully cracked the door open, and poked his head in. He could hear Rose mumbling to herself.

"Too big...too small...that looks like a dead animal..."

"What looks like a dead animal?" the Doctor asked loudly, walking into the room. Rose poked her head around a rack of clothes.

"This fur coat! It's hideous!" she pointed to a thick fur coat that could've easily been mistaken for a dead bear. His second self gave a "Humph!" of annoyance while the others started snickering.

"Hideous it may be, but it's extremely warm!" he scolded gently while he picked through his clothes.

"Alright, found something." She pulled out a black coat off of a hanger.

"Ok, go wait downstairs while I find something else to wear,"

Rose blinked.

"Why are _you _going to change?"

"New me, new outfit. I can't exactly wear my brown coat and pinstripes anymore, they're ruined! It'll only take a few minutes," he explained.

"I'll be waiting outside!" Rose called over her shoulder. She was already out the door. The Doctor gave a sigh and started rooting through his clothes.

Rose stood outside a few feet away from the TARDIS, stamping her feet and walking around. That kiss! She couldn't stop thinking about that kiss! The taste of him was still on her lips, the taste of time itself. She found herself smiling like a madman at the mere thought of it.

"Alright Rose, let's get going!"

Rose turned around and involuntarily let out a bark of laughter.

"What the heck are you wearing?" Rose asked, starting to giggle as she stared at him. The Doctor was wearing a black suit coat over a white collared shirt with embroidered red question marks on the collar. A red and blue checkered tie was tucked in-between the shirt and a swirly multi-colored waistcoat. His brightly striped trousers disappeared into the snow, hiding his shoes. A ridiculously long scarf was wrapped around his neck twice, the ends dragging lightly on the ground.

"What? Don't you like it? Mind you, 'm not keeping the scarf. When we leave, I'm throwing it back in the closet." he said, locking the TARDIS doors and slipping the keys in his pocket. He hopped over to Rose and offered his arm. She took it with a smile, and they started walking.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked. She looked at him. "I want to say this now, before we get interrupted again. Rose Tyler, I love you!" he was wearing a smile so wide that it threatened to break his face in two. She pulled him closer.

"I love you too, Doctor," she replied with a smile of her own. "So tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"It's been almost two years, what've you been doing? I know you haven't been sitting around in the TARDIS doing nothing."

"How do you know I haven't?" the Doctor asked, fishing in one of his pockets for something.

"Because you aren't that type. You could barely stand that Christmas dinner Mum made after you regenerated the first time!"

"One: I don't like doing domestic and two: your Mum can't cook worth squat." he replied, switching to another pocket.

"You think I don't know that? I've only lived with her for twenty-one years!" Rose laughed, and the Doctor joined in.

"So, what've you been doing?" the Doctor asked lightly, resuming his search in his pockets. Rose shook her head.

"Oh no, don't go changing subjects on me like that! I want to kn-"

"Ah ha! Want a jelly baby?" he held out a bag filled with the candies with a smile on his face. She took one and popped it in her mouth.

"Don't think that changes the fact that you're avoiding the subject." Rose said, earning a defeated look from the Doctor.

"Fine. I've been doing this and that. Saving the universe, making new friends, running into old ones..."

It all came spilling out after that. Everything, from saving Donna from the Racnoss to running into his fifth self in the TARDIS. Every once in a while Rose would interrupt with a question, and the Doctor would answer and continue with the story. After the Doctor finished, they walked in silence for the rest of the way simply enjoying each other's presence.

They arrived at Jackie's manor just as the sun started to set. The Doctor stopped a few feet away from the door with a worried look on his face. Rose grinned at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Your mum..." he mumbled, as if that what explanation enough. Rose sighed and grabbed his hand. He allowed her to drag him past the front door. Jackie came running out of the kitchen, smears of dark unrecognizable food on the front of her nice white shirt. She came right up to the Doctor and slapped him as hard as she could, the sound of her hand hitting his face echoed through the corridor. He recoiled. That _hurt_. He could feel the angry red hand print forming on his cheek.

"That's for leaving Rose here!" Jackie said shrilly.

Then, she did the very last thing that the Doctor would have expected. She grabbed him by the shoulders, and kissed him, hard.

The Doctor froze, too shocked to speak or even move.

"An' that's for coming back again," Jackie finished, pulling the Doctor into a quick hug. It took a moment to react, but after a few seconds he gave her an awkward pat on her back before she released him. The Doctor then placed a hand on his stinging cheek for the second time that day.

_You don't mess with the Tyler girls. You should know that by now,_ Ten said, a bit smug since it wasn't him that got smacked. Of course, if it were_ him _rather than Eleven, he would've gotten smacked twice as hard.

"I would've been back sooner, but I was having technical difficulties." the Doctor mumbled. Rose muffled her giggles, and hugged her mother. Jackie held her tightly, for she knew what Rose was going to say next.

"I'm going to miss you Mum."

"I'll miss you too Rose." Jackie whispered. They broke their embrace, and Jackie gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek. Rose stood there for a moment, waiting for at least a weak argument from Jackie about leaving. But it never came. Instead, Jackie nodded to the kitchen.

"Pete an' the baby are in the kitchen. How much longer do you have?"

Rose looked at the Doctor, who looked a watch he was wearing. He tilted his head as he thought.

"About three and a half hours, give or take a few minutes. Either way, we should hurry. I was really taking risks going from here to London and back, with the TARDIS in the shape she's in now. That's why we walked the two miles from the TARDIS to here."

"You walked? You could've rang, I would've picked you two up. I'll give you a ride back, seeing as it's a blizzard out there. I would be surprised if you didn't catch a cold, or hypothermia, or pneumonia...If she gets sick Doctor, I swear I will cross that void myself and slap you into next week! Do you hear me?"

The Doctor quietly followed Rose into the kitchen so she could say good-bye to the rest of her family. Pete was sitting next to a very messy blonde baby, who was absorbed in doodling in some mashed peas. Pete looked up as Rose walked in, followed by the Doctor and Jackie.

"Hello Rose. Who's your friend? Did you mee-" Rose cut him off as she gave him a hug and a kiss on his head.

"I love you Dad,"

"I...love you too? What's going on? Are you going somewhere?" Pete was genuinely confused and quickly becoming more so as Rose went over and kissed her baby brother, who giggled and clapped happily.

"Nice to see you again Pete. How's it going?" the Doctor asked lightly. Pete blinked at him.

"Uh...I'm fine. I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"I'm the Doctor." he said.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not! Is it a title? Passed down through family or something?"

"Do you know Harriet Jones?"

"When are you leaving sweetie?" Jackie asked, tears in her eyes as she thought of never seeing her daughter again. Rose gave her another quick hug.

"As soon as I pack. From what the Doctor said, the hole is already starting to close."

"Where are you going? Wait, what's going on? Will someone please explain?" Pete stood up. The Doctor cleared his throat.

"I give you the semi-short version: I'm the Doctor. The same Doctor you met when Cybermen tried to take over the world. I'm not his brother, I'm not a cousin, I'm him. When I'm dying, I can change every single cell in my body to save myself and continue living. Which is what happened. I died, but came back. Different face, same Doctor," he started with a sigh. The explaining tended to get tiresome after a few regenerations.

"It took me about a year to get tired of missing Rose, so I shoved myself into the heart of my TARDIS (long story, too complicated, don't ask) and ripped open a hole in the fabric of space/time to get to this dimension. I died, regenerated, got slapped, was out of it for a bit, had some coffee, saved the world from some rabbits, walked two and a half miles through some snow, and got slapped _again _so Rose could say her goodbyes to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go somewhere quiet and ponder how and when I became so friggin' domestic."

And with that, the Doctor left the kitchen to go and sit in the living room. Pete stared at his retreating form, and the baby took it upon himself to say "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

Rose ruffled his hair and said, "Yes, but he's my cuckoo."

After Rose packed her things (some clothes, her toothbrush, photos of family, ect.) she piled in with everyone else into Pete's black jeep and he drove them to through the snow to the waiting TARDIS. Rose said another tearful good-bye, causing the Doctor to roll his eyes and enter the TARDIS.

"Took you long enough," he said as he finished adjusting the coordinates. "You ready?" Rose dropped her bag in the captain's chair and hopped over to the Doctor with a wide smile on her face.

"Where to?" she asked, glad to back with him. The Doctor thought for a moment.

"Cardiff," he chirped. At Rose's wrinkled nose he added, "The old girl has taken on a lot of damage. I need to repair the vortex manipulator, re-weld the lateral valence scones because I'm dead sure they've managed to unhook themselves from the main wiring of the controls, and I need to get more mercury for the tribophysical waveform macro kinetic extrapolator. _And_ we need to refuel. I wouldn't be surprised if we landed in Egypt instead of the United Kingdom..."

Rose grinned as the Doctor continued to ramble on and on to himself, eventually turning to the subject of melted butter. She gave him a small hug and placed a kiss on his neck. The Doctor unlocked the hand brake and the TARDIS gave a shudder as they started their way to the right universe.

He gently unhooked her arms from around his waist and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. He unwrapped his scarf and threw it over the closest railing before he knelt down and unscrewed a panel from the control console, crawling under as he did in order to "get started on repairs." Rose placed her bag on the floor and sat down in the chair, watching him and giving the occasional tip, not noticing the TARDIS starting to shake.

Suddenly, an alarm started to blare. The Doctor scrambled out from under the controls as angry sparks threatened to light his hair on fire. He jumped around the TARDIS, pressing buttons and flicking switches, hoping he would hit the right combination to pacify the groaning ship. He cursed under his breath as a spark burned his finger. He finally resorted to grabbing his rubber mallet and hammering it a few times against the control console. The engines gave a wheeze, then a violent shudder, and then it was still. Rose carefully stood up and gave the Doctor a look.

"What was that about?" She asked. The Doctor shook his head slowly.

"I've no idea," he murmured as he glanced at the monitor as lines and lines of Gallifreyan text sped down the screen. "But I'll tell you what; it's not good. That can't be right!" he exclaimed suddenly, giving a quick look around the TARDIS. Rose stood up and took a step closer to the Doctor.

"What's not right? Doctor?"

"This," he pointed to the monitor that was still spouting off text and numbers, "says that three timelines have crossed over one another, at this exact moment in space and time-"

"-creating a paradox. Fantastic, that's just what I bloody well need. A paradox!"

The Doctor and Rose stared at each other, mouths open and eyes wide. Rose shook her head and dismissed the northern voice as an hallucination.

"It's just one after another! But this time it's three! _Three _time zones at war in the heart of the TARDIS! Do I really need to repair you that badly, or is this your way of telling me I left the water running? Eh?"

The Doctor straightened up and ran a hand through his hair as Rose's mouth dropped open, her accusation of hallucinations went down the loo.

"Like I said," he sighed as two figures walked from around the other side of the control stand and stared at him with identical looks of confusion.

"Not good."


	8. A Twist in Time

I'M SO SORRY for the delay. This has been done for over a month, but my computer is a friggin' MORON. I HATE IT. Oh well.

**Adalene Dubois:** Here you go!

**gaiafreedom21:** Yeah, he's a bit more strange than Ten, but I think he's just happy to be back with Rose. He's gonna mellow out later in the story, expecially after they visit Barcelo-OOPS. NEVAH MIND. :D

**NewDrWhoFan:** ;D Maybe...

**Skandragon Blackheart:** Of course they do! It wouldn't be Docor Who otherwise!!

Don't own Doctor Who, just the Eleventh Doctor. Allons-y!

XxXxX

**Chapter Eight: A Twist in Time**

For once, the control room was absolutely silent as the three Doctors and Rose stared at each other. The Tenth Doctor didn't seem to notice the Ninth or Eleventh, his brown eyes were wide with wonder as he stared at Rose who stared right back with tears threatening to spill over.

"Rose?" Ten whispered, his voice slightly strangled. Before Rose could react, Ten ran over and grabbed her in a tight hug and passionate kiss. Rose closed her eyes and very briefly (and I mean _very_ briefly) thought that this was the tiniest bit awkward with the other Doctors watching them. But the moment passed and she kissed Ten right back. Nine glared at Eleven with the full force a 900-something year old Time Lord could muster.

"Who are you lot and wot the bloody hell are you doing in my TARDIS?!" he shouted. Eleven winced and walked around Ten and Rose (who were snogging each other's faces off) and stood next to Nine. _Never truly realized how big my ears were..._he thought as he gave Nine a quick look.

"Wait...didn't I leave her," Nine pointed to Rose who was still kissing Ten, "on Earth with her boyfriend what's-his-name...Rickey?"

"Wibbly wobbly, time-y wimey," Eleven sighed. He gave an irritated look at Rose and his tenth self. Didn't he realize how rude he was? "...Oi! Get a room!"

Ten ignored him and continued kissing Rose. Nine gave Eleven a good look over as Eleven's eye twitched a bit at the fact that Rose was still kissing Ten's face off. (Jealous much?)

"You didn't answer me. Who are you?"

"Well, you see, it's a funny story," Eleven said with a scratch of his cheek. He made a small mental note to shave as soon as the paradox ended. Nine raised an eyebrow.

"Humour me."

"I'm you," Eleven answered bluntly. Now both of Nine's eyebrows were raised. "Well, I'm the Eleventh you. The git over there," he pointed to Ten, who had stopped kissing Rose and was in the process of smothering her in a tight hug, "The git over there is the Tenth you."

"So that means I become the pretty boy over there. Fantatsic..." the Ninth Doctor's voice dripped with sarcasm on the last word.

"I know. Not only that, he's a rude git, talks too much, and is over-confident." Eleven added.

"Doctor? What's going on? Who's that?" A female voice came from the doorway leading to the rooms. Four heads snapped around at the voice. The owner of the voice was a young black woman, standing there with her hands on her hips. Ten let go of Rose and nervously raked his hair with one hand while the other was tightly wrapped around Rose's waist. How was he going to explain this?

"Well Martha, this is Rose. Rose, this is Martha." he said nervously, starting to chew on his bottom lip. There we go! Straight to the point! Rose gave a smile, pleased to meet the person who had inadvertedly saved the Doctor from the deep dark pit of his depression.

"Nice to meet you." She said politely. Well, as politely as she could when Martha was giving her a none-too-friendly look over. Martha raised an eyebrow at Rose_. So this is the famous Rose Tyler. Doesn't look too amazing. I bet she only latched onto him for his looks..._

"Likewise," Martha said cooly. She then noticed Nine and Eleven. She pointed to them. "Doctor, who are they? More old friends?"

Ten turned and looked at them, thankful that Martha wasn't giving him the evil glare of death anymore. His eyebrows rose as he saw Nine, then they furrowed as he looked at Eleven.

"Well, the one in black used to be me. And I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark at the other one...me? Next regeneration?"

As Eleven gave a shrug and a nod, the TARDIS room gave a sudden jerk, throwing all of her occupents to the floor. As Rose fell on top of Ten her lips and mouth started to tingle and her stomach twisted around painfully. She clamped a hand over her mouth in order to keep herself from vomiting. Ten helped her up and held her hand tightly.

"What's wrong Rose? Are you alright?" Ten asked, voice filled with concern as he cradled her face in his hands. Rose shook her head.

"I think I'm going to puke." she mumbled before stumbling hurriedly to the bathroom. Ten followed after her like a stray puppy on caffine.

Martha wandered over to Eleven and Nine, who were staring at the retreating forms of Ten and Rose.

"Excuse me, Doctor, but what is going on here?" To her it felt strange calling these two men 'Doctor.' Eleven looked around the room, and noticed the exposed wiring underneath the control stand that he was trying to fix mere moments ago. He bit his lip.

"Sorry. This is my fault. I was fixing some wires and, well, my TARDIS is in really bad shape. I intend to fix as soon as we get back to Cardiff. Some of the damaged wires must've cause the paradox."

Nine noticed the wires and went over to examine them. Eleven turned to Martha.

"Martha, where was the last place you visited?"

"1969. We were stuck there for a while. Why?"

"Just wondering. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"How thick can you get?" Nine asked from his postition under the control stand. Eleven and Martha wandered over to him. Eleven gave a little kick to Nine's boots.

"Why? What did I do?"

"You welded the lateral valence scones to the time rotor!" Nine grumbled angrily. Honestly, how stupid could his future self be to do something so fundamentaly idiotic? Eleven gave a sheepish smile.

"Oops. Well, I'm still getting used to this body..." he sighed. There was a loud crash and even louder cursing as Nine banged his head on the side of the control stand. He slid out on his back, rubbing his head and wrinkling his nose at Eleven.

"You mean you've just regenerated?!"

"What's regenerated mean?" Martha asked, glancing at a sheepish Eleven. Eleven rolled his eyes again.

"It's something Time Lords can do. It's...a long and complicated story Martha. You'll find out more when my git of a former self drops off at Cardiff for a pit stop. And yes, I recently regenerated Nine. It actually went fairly smooth. No amnesia, no trying to kill copmpanions, nothing...except for a bit of embaressment on my part." Eleven blushed at he recalled his little streaking moment through the mansion. As embaressing as that was, he had to abmit it was kind of fun.

"What did you do to get yourself killed Doctor?" Martha asked, sitting crosslegged on the floor. It was starting to get more comfortable calling them "Doctor," for the fact they acted so...Doctor-ish. Eleven coughed and mumbled something unintellgible. Nine asked him to repeat it.

"I shoved myself in the heart of the TARDIS! I did it to get back to Rose!"

At this, both Nine and Martha rolled their eyes; Nine for his future self's stupidity, and Martha at his explaination containing Rose. Again. Nine went back under the control and attempted to unweld the scones from the rotor, grumbling to himself as he went.

"Killing himself for a human girl...it's ridiculous...Shut yer mouth Eight..."

Eleven lowered himself into a squat, a smile on his unshaved face and his dark green eyes glittering.

"She's worth asking twice."

Nine poked his head out, his face blank but ice blue eyes sparkling.

"Really?"

"Best thing that ever happened to us." Eleven's smile grew wider. Martha rolled her eyes and stood up to stalk off. Nine watched her leave with an amused expression. He looked back to Eleven.

"I think she might be tired of Rose."

"You think? I think she really wanted to slap me every time I mentioned her."

There was a somewhat awkward silence in the room while Martha was sulking and Nine was unwelding wires with his sonic screwdriver. Eleven stood up and shuffled his feet. He heaved a big sigh and pulled out his bag of jelly babies.

"Well, this is fun. Nothing like a paradox to brighten up the day." he said as he popped one of the candies into his mouth.

"Oh shut it. Just need to weld these together..."

There was a small hiss followed by a large bang, and the TARDIS shook violently. Eleven stumbled backwards, and Nine scrambled out from underneath the controls as sparks showered down on him. Eleven steadied Nine as the cloister bell started to reverberate throughout the ship.

"Martha! Hold down that button!" Eleven pointed to random button as he and Nine rushed around the controls trying to stop the impending doom. Martha stared at the controls, with it's numerous flashing buttons and brightly lit levers. Hold down the button? Which bloody button?!

Martha decided to not ask (having learned early on that asking the Doctor which button to press was like asking a cat to go and fetch the morning paper for you. You'll get a bemused look and no answer) and pressed a blinking blue button. The TARDIS gave an angry buzz and both Doctors looked over at Martha.

"Not that one! The _other_ one!" they yelled at the same time. Martha winced and pressed another one. This time the TARDIS gave a weaker buzz and the cloister bell stopped. Eleven looked at her with an owlish look on his face.

"Which one did you press?"

"The big red one."

Eleven and Nine stared at her. Then they looked at each other and shrugged, both thinking the same thing. _Why didn't I think of that? Red for stop._ The sound of the TARDIS de-materializing filled the room. Eleven watched as Martha faded out of his sight, before he turned to Nine who was starting to fade as well. He gave a smile.

"Nine, before you go, I have a bit of advice for you,"

Nine waited for him to continue. Eleven gave him a wink and a smile.

"You should mention it travels in time."

Nine gave his future self a smile before he faded away completely. Eleven stood there in silence, waiting for the brilliant spark of genius to tell him what to do now that the paradox was done. He gave the TARDIS a small pat, allowing it to hum tiredly under his hand. He heard a small creak as a door was opened and Rose entered the room, a disgusted look on her face.

"I forgot how nasty throwing up was. I haven't been sick in a while," she noticed the large smile on the Doctor's face and raised an eyebrow at him, "What are you looking so smug for?"

The Doctor gave a shrug.

"Just thinking about how great circles are," his voice trailed off as his emerald eyes started twinkling. Rose raised an eyebrow as a thought struck her.

"Will any of them remember this?" she asked. The Doctor tilted his head and shrugged.

"My ninth self _might_, simply due to the fact that his TARDIS is the youngest and strongest of the three. My tenth self and Martha will not, because the TARDIS was too weak at the moment to keep the memory of the paradox intact in their minds. _We _will because it's in our present timeline," he pressed a small button near the screen and smiled.

"Ready for Cardiff?"

XxXxXxX

Next chapter is fairly long. It's pretty much a filler chapter, setting you up for the next 'story arc.' He's not alone any more...


	9. Cardiff Adventures Part 1

Alright. I've split this into two parts because I can't really think of how to make into one chapter. My apologies if it seems strange, what with it going back and forth so much. Next chapter, there will be no scene hopping.

**tiamat100:** Thank you! Here's the next bit!

**chrisinesangel100:** Thank you!

**anitarose:** Thank you! I'm glad I managed to capture them all, that was one of the things I was worried about.

**rose4thedoctor4eva:** Here you go! The get a room line was my favorite bit too.

**gaiafreedom21:** Thank you! I'm good at funny stuffs. Actually, if you tilt your head and squint, you can see someting in that chapter that is a fairly major plot point.

**NewDrWhoFan:** I like having various Doctors kissing various people (mainly Rose)

**Madame-SaucePan:** He's Pretty Boy with an oral fixation! Of _course _he's going to snog everything!

**snapeygirl:** Here ya go!

**HadesSiren:** Oh you spoiled thing you! :D

DO NOT OWN TEH FRANCHISE!! **I only own the Eleventh Doctor, and the the Twins (Johnathan & Gweneth)**

**Chapter Nine Part 1 :Cardiff Adventures  
**

_Wednesday, February 19, 2012_

_Today's been fairly calm. No rift activity, no weevils, no...nothing. It almost seems too quiet. Ianto's upstairs, Gwen's at home with her baby boy, Martha's building a castle out of cards, and Luke's...I don't know what he's doing. Probably hacking into the Pentagon or something. I still find it funny that Sarah-Jane allowed him a job here, considering his "uniqueness" and the fact that she's an overprotective old hen, but I don't mind. He's a computer genius, and a great babysitter for the twins. He's really the only one who can keep up with them. Lord knows I can't anymore. _

_Speaking of the twins, their birthday is tomorrow. I have __**no**_ _**clue**__ what to get them. I ran out of ideas of what to get them two years ago. Maybe I'll just get them some more spare machine parts to mess around with. Hopefully, they learned their lesson last year. Who'd have known that a couple of five year olds could cause a blackout over a good two-thirds of Cardiff? I actually thought it was pretty funny. Y'know, __after__ the fact. During the blackout, it wasn't too funny. But afterwards, we all shared a laugh. Except for Luke. He still hasn't grasped the concept of humor..._

Jack tapped his pen against the open journal, reflecting on what else he could write in it. He vaguely considered writing about the game of naked hide-and-seek he had with Ianto last night in the shooting range, but dismissed it after consideration. _That_ would go in his _other_ journal, he thought with a cheeky grin.

His thoughts were interrupted as the phone on the corner decided to start up it's obnoxious ringing. He grabbed the receiver before it could ring anymore and held it up to his ear, considering getting a new phone.

"Yes Ianto?" he answered.

"Sir, the school just called again. They said they need to move up the conference to today. They implied it was urgent." Ianto's voice sounded slightly amused through the phone. Jack gave a sigh.

"That means they've gotten into more trouble. Alright, I'm on my way." Jack hung the phone back on it's receiver. With a tired sigh, he ran a hand through his hair and gave it a random scratch. He stood up and grabbed his coat off of the wooden coat rack next to his office door. He pulled it on as he headed over to the stairs leading to the streets above. Martha looked up from her castle of cards just as he opened the gate to the stairs.

"Where you going Jack?" she asked, and in doing so knocked down her four story card castle she was in the process of making. Jack smirked at her as she grumbled about how long it took her to make a _single _story on the bloody thing.

"Conference for the twins. I bet you anything that Gweneth's gotten into another fight and Johnathan's blown something up."

"You're probably right. It's either that, or they've been fighting with each other."

"It's either one or the other!" Jack called over his shoulder as he climbed the dimly lit stairs. He gave Ianto, who was reading a newspaper, a quick wink on his way out onto the streets of Cardiff. As he stepped outside, he stretched in the afternoon sunlight. He headed over to the "Torchwood family van" as he liked to call it and as he was inserting the keys into the lock, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. His head snapped up and he blinked. He turned around, lifting a hand to his eyes to shield them from the sun. Could it be?

"It has to be!" Jack said out loud as the faint, but distinct, grinding engine noise started to grow louder. He looked around and sure enough, he spotted the bright blue box fading into existence. He sauntered over, car momentarily forgotten. When the doors flew open, he stopped dead in his tracks.

He stared at the young blonde who had happily hopped out of the TARDIS, numerous emotions running through his head. Shock, disbelief, amazement, and confusion all showed in his voice as he called out to the woman.

"Rose?!"

Her head snapped up, eyes looking around wildly before settling on Jack. A smile lit up her face and she ran up to him, jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly as Jack hugged back with a confused look on his face. She kissed him on the cheek before she stepped back. He looked the exact same to her, from his bright blue eyes to his clothes that looked out of this era.

"Wha...How did..." Jack stumbled over his words before realization lighted up his eyes. "The Doctor found a way, didn't he?" Rose's smile faded ever-so-slightly and she nodded. Jack noticed the slight change in her expression and became concerned. He cast a look at the TARDIS, sitting quietly a few yards away.

"What's wrong? Is the Doctor alright?"

"He's fine! He's...better than he's been in a long time from what he's told me," Rose's smile returned as Jack raised an eyebrow. What he's told her?

"Really? And just what has he said?" he asked, faking nervousness. Rose poked her tongue through her teeth teasingly as she said "Oh nothing."

Jack growled playfully as he picked her up in another hug. Could this be the same Rose Tyler that he ran into all those years ago? It couldn't be. The Rose he held in his arms seemed too innocent, too spirited. He shrugged the thought off. A Rose is a Rose, he thought as he set her down. She smiled.

"D'you want to see him?" she asked, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the TARDIS. Jack considered it, but shook his head. He pointed to the black van behind him.

"Nah, maybe later. I have to be getting somewhere," he flashed her a smile. "Wanna come?"

Rose looked toward the TARDIS, thinking over the choices. She eventually turned back to Jack and grabbed his hand. The Doctor could always come after her later. After all, she was with Jack again. How much trouble could she get into?

"Lead the way Captain!"

)()()()()()()(

The Doctor ran a hand across his now smooth chin. He was still getting used to the new body and the new thought processes. He seemed to be easily distracted by small things, like how there were minuscule flecks of sapphire in his new emerald eyes. He liked them, the eyes. It was a nice change from brown and blue. They tended to get boring after a few centuries. He was a bit disappointed that the mole between his shoulders was now gone; he quite liked it, and now it was gone. He hadn't even had the chance to show Rose! AND he still had brown hair! Would he ever have ginger hair? Or was he simply just destined not to have red hair?

He gave a shrug and turned away from the mirror above the bathroom sink. He walked into the main control room and looked around thoughtfully. What now? Rose was with Jack, he had seen her leave with him before he went to shave. Maybe he could take a quick visit to Torchwood Cardiff? That would be interesting. Might ruin Jack's "time off", but when was the Doctor ever _not _for giving Jack a bit of trouble?

)()()()()()()(

"So, where are we going?" Rose asked as Jack eased them into the late afternoon Cardiff traffic. Jack hid a smile, eager to see her reaction to his answer.

"Well, I'm going to a school for a parent-teacher conference for the fourth time this year," he laughed loudly at the look on Rose's face, which was one of sheer shock. Jack has a kid? When did that happen? How did...Wait, what?

"Before you ask, they're not mine. An old...friend came to me a few years ago and asked me to take care of them," Jack explained. Rose blinked in confusion.

"'Them'? How many kids are there?"

"Twins. A boy and a girl. A right handful they are. Last year, they managed to cause a major blackout across Cardiff," he said with a chuckle. He looked at Rose. "They were five years old."

)()()()()()()(

The Doctor stepped out into the bright Cardiff sunlight and gave a big stretch. He heaved a big sigh and smiled. He loved to taste of the air here. So clean! So rich! He blinked in slight confusion. Wait, what? Clean and rich? What year was it? It couldn't be 2008; 2008 was one of the worst years for pollution. He looked at his watch, and raised an eyebrow as the hands spun around wildly before settling down.

18/2/2012 4:01PM

The Doctor shrugged. So what if he was a few years off the mark anyways? It didn't matter too much to him. Surely he could stir up some trouble at Torchwood. With a smile, he shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered over to the tourist information center, mind bubbling with ideas to annoy Jack's team.

)()()()()()(

"So, they're like super geniuses?" Rose asked, stepping out of the van and into the small parking lot of the school. Jack laughed as he got out and locked the van. He walked over to Rose and offered his arm. She took it and they began to walk to the school.

"In short terms? Yes. I stopped understanding what they were talking about last year, and that's when I hired Luke,"

"Who's Luke?"

"Sarah Jane's son. Adopted son," he added, seeing the look on Rose's face. "Well, I didn't really hire him. Sarah let him come work for us. She visits us and the twins every weekend."

"What are the twins like?" Rose asked, still amazed at the fact that Jack was taking care of children. Who in their right mind would let him do that? Jack sighed, wondering how much he could tell her without starting any trouble. Time was a tricky business and he didn't want to rupture it carelessly.

"Well there's a brother and sister. Where do you want me to start?"

"You can start with the boy,"

"Right. Johnathan is the motormouth of the two. He's the one who speaks first and thinks later, which is probably why his teachers have moved the conference up to today. Probably mouthed off to someone. He's obsessed with taking things apart and making completely different. I've had to confiscate several things he put together because they were picking up radio transmissions from other galaxies,"

"Really? Sounds like the Doctor," Rose said with a laugh. Jack joined in a bit nervously.

"Yeah, you could say that."

)()()()()()(

"You realize that was totally uncalled for right?" the Doctor shouted Ianto's back as he left the cells beneath Torchwood. He gave a sigh and leaned his head against the door. All he did was open the "secret" door embedded in the wall. Then, before he could sneak in, Ianto had looked up and pointed a gun at his head. The Doctor had been pushed down through the Hub and into an empty cell.

Unable to stand the quietness of the cell, the Doctor decided to start ranting randomly.

"Humans are _the _most complicated and conflicting beings in the universe. You all are mad! You don't make any sense! I have never seen a race to inclined to destroy yet bound to show mercy. As I said, absolute madness. Nothing good can come from involvement with humanity," he pulled out a small bag as a second thought. "Except for jelly babies. I quite like them,"

Ianto walked back in with Luke and Martha. The Doctor's face brightened up when he saw Martha, and he held out the bag of candy.

"Would you like one Martha? How's Tom?" Martha's eyes widened in alarm. Luke and Ianto looked between the smug Doctor and confused Martha.

"How'd you know my name?"

"Well, I'd be a pretty lousy Time Lord if I didn't remember my companions names! Now will you tell your friend to let me out of this cell? It's not very comfortable, kinda damp, and smells funny." he said with a wrinkled nose as Martha's mouth dropped open and rolled along the floor.

)()()()()()(

Jack and Rose stopped in front of a classroom, laughing at his story of how the five year old twins managed to cause a blackout over half of Wales. Rose leaned against Jack's shoulder, waiting for him to stop giggling and thinking about what she was going to say. How could she say it? She didn't think a simple "I'm sorry" would cover it. Jack noticed her sudden state of quietness. He pulled her away from him and held him at arms length.

"Rose? What's wrong?" he asked, looking over her face with worry. For some reason, he felt like he was acting like a big brother to her. Rose shook her head.

"Nothing. It's...nothing."

"Rose, it _is _something. I can tell. Just spit it out."

"Jack...the Doctor told me what I did to you back on the Game Station," she voice shook slightly as she even thought about it. Jack sighed and pulled her into a hug. He rested his chin on top of her head, rubbing the back of her head back and forth with his thumb. They failed to notice that the door to the classroom had opened up and a young boy stood there with a wrinkled nose.

"Oh _please _Uncle Jack. Get a room!"


	10. Cardiff Adventures Part 2

Hallo! This chapter absolutely didn't want to be written. At first it included more Rose, then it had no Torchwood team, then I had a plot bunny attack me in the middle of the night so I had to rewrite the entire second half, then I remembered that the Eleventh Doctor had glasses...It was madness. ((Chibi!John: Madness? THIS...IS...DOCTOR WHO!!))

Only 2 reviews? Aww...

**Kathryn Shadow:** He doesn't mind that he's only six. Any attention to him is good attention.

**rose4thedoctor4eva:** Actually, I wrote that about...a month before Journey's End came out. I was just running through a list of computer geniuses that could work at Torchwood and Luke was at the top of the list. :D

**Disclaimer:** I only own Eleven, John and Gwen in this chapter. Not the franchise.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Cardiff Adventures part 2  
**

The Doctor held back a wide yawn as Martha looked back and forth between the x-rays she had taken. Why couldn't believe what he told them? She had insisted that she do a medical scan to see if he was telling the truth. He quietly stood up, smiling when Martha didn't turn around, and proceeded upstairs to the main Hub. He let out a low whistle, craning his neck back so that he could look at the ceiling. He could barely see it, it was so high above him. He heard a whooshing sound and let out a unbelievable laugh as the resident pterodactyl decided it was time to stretch it's wings a bit.

"Doctor?!" he heard Martha's voice, slightly panicked. He poked his head over the railing and looked down at her in the medical "room." She looked up and he waved, her mouth hanging open.

"You called?" the Doctor grinned as she pointed at him, her mouth working up and down but no sound coming out. The Doctor laughed as she ran up the stairs to look him in the eyes. She placed a hand on the left side of his chest, feeling his second heart. Her eyes widened and she stepped back.

"Hello Martha." the Doctor said softly. He held out his bag of jelly babies, offering Martha one. However, he didn't notice that Martha had balled up her fist until he had been punched in between the eyes, causing his glasses to fly off his face and render him unconscious.

When he came to a short while later, he was lying on a couch and Ianto was standing with a small smile, a cup and saucer of coffee in one hand and the Doctor's glasses in the other.

"Coffee sir?" Ianto asked politely. The Doctor's head was a bit scrambled, not entirely sure what had happened. He sat up and took the cup and his glasses. He placed his glasses back on his nose and began to drink the coffee. In the middle of taking a gulp, he coughed and sprayed coffee all over Ianto's nice clean suit.

"Martha Jones!! That cheeky little _ape_! Where is she?!" the Doctor stood up, looking wildly around for her. He noticed that he had gotten coffee all over Ianto and winced. "Sorry about the suit."

"It's not a problem, sir," Ianto replied, calmly taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping his face off. He set the tray down on a side table near the off-white couch. "Martha went upstairs to have a word with Jack. They should be back any moment."

The Doctor nodded in thanks and sat back down of the couch as Ianto walked off to talk with Luke. He took another sip of the coffee, savoring it. It was the best coffee he had ever had. And that was saying something coming from an alien who was almost a thousand years old. The Doctor took another look around the Hub, noticing how industrial and makeshift it looked compared to Torchwood London. Drab grey concrete was everywhere, wiring was exposed, and he could faintly smell the stink of sewage.

Even stranger, he could feel...something at the back of his mind. He wasn't too sure what it was, but he felt like he should know. It felt like something...some_one_, someone curious. Whatever..._who_ever it was, they had to have incredible telepathic ability if the Doctor was able to pick it up in Cardiff, what with the rift and all. It almost felt like...No. No, he was just imagining things now. It almost felt like a Time Lord's psychic pattern, but he could let himself get excited over it. It was most likely residual energy from the Master. But the problem with that was that _that _happened years ago. The pattern would've faded long before...

So what was it?

"Doctor!" He heard Rose's voice and turned. She was walking down a series of steps coming from the fake office aboveground. The Doctor smiled, forgetting the strange feeling at the back of his mind as Rose walked over and sat down next to him. He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a quick kiss on the head.

"What have you been doing?" Rose asked him. The Doctor shrugged.

"Well, I got arrested, thrown into a cell next a Weevil and then punch in the face by Martha," he said casually. Then he perked up. "Speaking of, where is that cheeky ape? I have a few choice words for her."

"Rose!" Both of their heads turned to see a young boy come running towards them, his wild hair sticking straight out. His eyes were sparkling as he stopped in front of them. He opened his mouth, but noticed the Doctor. His already wide eyes grew wider, his mouth moving but no words coming out.

"Doctor, this is John. Jack has been raising him and his sister. John, this is the Doctor."

The Doctor smiled and held hand out. John stared at his hand before running off. The Doctor blinked confusedly.

"That's strange. He couldn't stop talking on the ride here from the school," Rose said. The Doctor looked at her with raised eyebrows. School? Did the boy live here?

"Who exactly was that Rose?" he asked, looking back at the boy who was whispering with a girl his age. The two children looked at him as the Doctor spoke. The Doctor felt the strange static feeling at the back of his mind return, this time a bit stronger. It lingered at the edges of his mind, curious and hesitant. Could it be those two children?

"That was John. The girl next to him is his twin sister. They don't look too much alike do they?"

The Doctor shook his head absentmindedly, still watching the children who were now arguing with each other, waving their arms around angrily. Rose was talking now, something about them blowing a computer up or something, but the Doctor wasn't listening. He was totally focused on the twins. The strange static feeling became softer, becoming a quiet hum. It was like the feeling was alive in a way. It felt like part of it was carefully starting to feel it's way closer to his own mind. A bit too close for real comfort. The Doctor mentally raised a barrier, and saw the boy's eyes grow even wider.

_Curiosity killed the cat, you know._ The Doctor chided them in his mind. He smirked as he saw the children flinch and stare at him. Then they both ran off. Jack came around the corner and waved. Rose and the Doctor gave him a friendly wave back. The Doctor noted the slight surprise he saw in Jack's pale blue eyes, but it was gone in an instant. Jack walked over and sat across from the Doctor, the small table creaking ever-so-slightly.

"Doctor. Looking good," Jack said playfully. He looked at Rose and nodded towards the front of the Hub. "The pizza's ready. I need to have a word with the Doctor. Alone."

"It's alright Rose. Go on," the Doctor said, pulling her to her feet as he stood up. "I want to ask Jack something as well."

"Who are they?" the Doctor asked the second Jack closed the door to his office behind him. Jack sighed, shrugging off his long coat at placing it on the coat rack near the door. He sat down behind his desk, raising his eyebrows at the Doctor, who was standing at the window and staring through the blinds at the group sitting around the dining table eating.

"It's a long story," Jack said, scratching his nose absentmindedly. The Doctor looked at him, his green eyes glinting.

"Then start talking." he said evenly. Jack motioned the Doctor to sit. He remained standing by the window. _How to put this gently?_ Jack thought. He shrugged and dived in.

"They're your children."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at him, skepticism plain on his face.

"Right. And that nice Ianto man is my brother. Really, Jack. Be serious,"

"Doctor. I'm dead serious," Jack opened his desk drawer and pulled out a thick folder, placing it on his desk in front of the Doctor. The Doctor narrowed his eyes at Jack as he sat down across from him and flipped open the folder. The Doctor began reading, his eyebrows furrowing as he pushed his glasses up his nose. His mouth dropped open.

* * *

Everyone around the table, most with pizza in their mouths, nearly choked as they heard shouts coming from Jack's office. They looked at each other, shrugged and went back to eating. John and his sister looked at each other, fairly sure what just happened in the office. John cleared his throat.

"May Gwen and I be excused?" he asked politely, looking at Ianto. Ianto nodded, and the twins hopped out of their chairs.

* * *

The Doctor stared at the x-rays and lab reports with his mouth hanging open. It was impossible! It was insane! It was impossible! It was incredible! But most of all, it was impossible!

"This is impossible!" he told Jack for the eighth time since he had pulled the thick file from a drawer in his desk. Jack rolled his eyes.

"That's what I said when their mother told me three years ago,"

"Their mother?" the Doctor looked up. Jack nodded.

"Yep. Their mother. Why? Did you think they appeared out of thin air?"

"No, usually Time Lords are loomed..." the Doctor mumbled. "Who's their mother? It can't be Rose. Is it Rose? Oh dear Rassilon, it _is _Rose isn't it? It can't be Rose! Could it? No, it couldn't be. We never...Did we? No! We didn't! So how...?"

Jack almost laughed at the utterly confused look on the Doctor's face. He would have if it were any other situation, but he merely sighed. He knew he was going to have to explain, but actually expected it to be when the twins were older, when he had more time to think it over. But, of course, the universe had other plans. Decided to drop the pair of them in Jack's lap.

There was a quiet knock, and the door creaked open a few inches. John and Gwen poked their heads in, John with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Can we come in?" John asked. The Doctor stared at the children as Jack waved them in. John shut the door behind them and they stood near Jack's desk, Gwen eying the Doctor. The Doctor tried to smile at them. He really tried, but his mouth turned into a grimace rather than a friendly and assuring smile. As he studied the children, he was slightly suprized that he recognized some features from his two previous incarnations in the children. The girl, Gwen, had almost identical blue eyes as his ninth self, as well as her air of defense and those ears couldn't be missed. John, on the other hand, looked nearly identical to his previous self, with the exception of the color of his wild hair. He had the same wide brown eyes and smug confidence that seemed to emanate off of him.

"So, you're the Doctor?" Gwen asked, her northern accent seeming quite loud in the small office. The Doctor nodded, still a bit nonplussed. John's eyes widened as he stepped a bit closer to the Doctor. John reached in his pocket and pulled out a small paper bag. He held it out for the Doctor.

"Do you want a jelly baby?"


	11. Cardiff Adventures Part 3

-falls over- Oh dear Rassilon...Just finished the first full day of school and my back is killing me. I've only got my Algebra 2 book, but all the paper in my other folders weighs a ton!! This chapter was a pain. Plain as that. I have absolutely no idea where to go definitely from here. I have a bit of an idea of a new "story arc", if you will, but I dunno if that should be a sequel for after this story or a continuation, or what. Rawr.

**Lutherian:** Yah. :D

**rose4thedoctor4eva:** Yep. Jelly babies are awesome.

**Erikstrulove:** Who else would it be? ;D

**TCASM:** -Twins wave back-

**Isis the Sphinx:** I'm having almost as much fun with this as I am with "Eight Little Words"!! ((A lot))

**BocasAwlBeBack:** Yah, 'M not that big of a Ten fan, so I just had him follow Rose to the loo to watch her puke. You actually helped my writer's block ease off a bit with your suggestion of the blinding headache. Thanks!

**HadesSiren:** -mad laughter- Beware the unexpected plot twist! Hahahahaha!!

_**Disclaimer:**_ Me-sa no own-a Doctor Who-ha. Just the Twins and 11. :D

* * *

**Chapter 11: Cardiff Adventures Part 3 ((AKA: SUrPRIsE!!  
**

_**Meanwhile, in the Doctor's mind...**_

_The was an uncomfortable silence in the area where his previous incarnations inhabited. Doctor's One through Eight were glaring at Nine & Ten with such a force, that Eleven was surprised that they didn't burst into the proverbial flame. A few minutes later, Seven gave a small cough and shook his head._

_"I can't believe it. You two got a human pregnant." he sighed. _

_"It's unheard of," Two added, folding his arms across his chest. "Besides the whole fact that all Gallifreyan's are sterile..."_

_"Exactly! It's absolutely impossible! It's not our fault that it happened, however it happened." Ten butted in._

_"I would've never __**ever **__guessed that I would become this...__**idiotic **__as I became older. I mean really," One huffed, earning a glare from Nine._

_"Says he who was booted off Gallifrey at the age of one-hundred-and-fifty. And what about Susan?"_

_"That's entirly besides the point! She was simply loomed from my DNA, you know __**that**__!"_

_"At least they are the children with the woman you love," Eight sighed. "I think it's very romantic."_

_"Shut up Eight! Can't you see the severity of the situation?" Six shouted at him. "Do you realize what could happen if our enemies found out about them?!"_

_"...I was just saying..." Eight mumbled, a hurt look on his face._

The uncomfortable silence extended into Jack's office, as the Doctor stood by the window and munched on his jelly babies while the shouting argument raged in his head. He was starting to develop a migraine. He stared at the children, who had taken it upon themselves to sit in the seat across from Jack and munch on John's jelly babies. Jack sat behind his desk, wondering who would be the first of the three to speak up. His question was answered soon.

"He doesn't look so amazing," Gwen said, earning a unbelieved look from the Doctor. She turned around and looked at Jack over the top of her chair. "Are you _sure _this is the guy?"

"Yes, this is him." Jack smiled. The Doctor cleared his throat.

"That was rude, but I'm going to ignore th-"

"Rude? _Rude_?! You left Mum on a parallel dimension!" Gwen snapped at him. The Doctor's hearts sank a bit as she finished her sentence. _So Rose is their mother..._He thought_._ His gaze hardened as he set his bag of candy down.

"Listen. I didn't _leave _her anywhere. She was trapped there-"

"Trapped? Well, you took long enough getting back to her!" Gwen snarled.

"LISTEN YOU LITTLE-"

"FINGERS ON LIPS!!" John shouted, putting his finger on his lips.

* * *

Everyone around the table, most with pizza halfway to their mouths, froze when they heard John's command. Luke went so far as to drop his pizza and put his finger on his lips before picking his pizza back up, cheeks red with embaressment. Rose set down her food and stood up. The team made no effort to stop her as she made her way to Jack's office. She carefully placed an ear to the door, and could hear muffled arguing from inside. She slowly pushed the door open and stared at the scene that greeted her.

Gwen was standing on the chair yelling at the Doctor, who was yelling back. Jack was standing between them, trying to calm them down, and John was standing next to the door. He looked at Rose when the door opened, giving her a small smile.

"What's going on in here?" Rose asked, earning her shocked looks from the others. The Doctor stared at her, reminding her of a goldfish.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked. Rose shrugged, ignoring the slightly nervous and scared tone in his voice.

"Not even half a minute. Why are you arguing with Gwen?"

"We weren't arguing!" they said at the same time, glaring at each other. Jack cleared his throat and motioned for Rose to come in and close the door. She did, and remained standing at the door. John's grin widened a bit as he held out his bag of candies.

"Jelly baby?"

"What's going on in here?" Rose repeated. The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, so he shrugged.

"I...don't really know. These kids say that...you are their mother. Which doesn't make any sense to me, seeing as they've been here for...how long?" he looked at Jack.

"Tomorrow it'll be three years."

"Three years. That's..." the Doctor trailed off as his eyebrows furrowed in thought. Everyone watched him as he spoke silently to himself, his mouth forming words at a mile a minute. John and Gwen looked at each other.

"It took him long enough, didn't it?" John asked his sister. Gwen nodded.

"What? Will someone please tell me what's going on here?" Rose asked exasperatedly. John sighed.

"It hasn't been almost three years since you've been on the parallel world," he said. "It's been almost six. You're mind's been wiped and your memories of having us have been replaced with others."

"What? What makes you so sure?" the Doctor asked the young boy.

"Because I'm clever." he smirked. Gwen rolled her eyes, having heard that sentence from her brother about a million times since he began talking. The Doctor rolled his eyes as well, before walking over to Rose and placing his hands on her temples.

"I'm just going to have a quick look to see if I'm right, alright Rose?" he asked softly. Rose nodded and relaxed, and the Doctor carefully felt his way into her mind and memories...

_He looked around the bright hallway he was in, scratching his nose and adjusting his glasses as he peered at the numerous doors that lined the walls. A good number of them were open, various scenes playing just behind their doorways. The Doctor cleared his throat a bit._

_"Rose?" he called upward. "Could you do me a favor and close all the doors containing memories of this universe? It'd be a hell of a lot easier if I could see the ones only from the alternate universe."_

_There was a second of silence, then nearly all of the doors slammed shut. He nodded in thanks and began searching. The first few doors he came to were from when they accidentally landed in the Alt!Universe with Mickey, then when he was in his tenth body. He bypassed them quickly, and was heading further down the hall of memories when a closed door caught his eye._

_It was a locked door, but it wasn't only locked. It was heavily chained with golden links, and bright letters glowed underneath. The Doctor pulled his glasses off and quickly wiped them off with a rag he pulled out from his pocket. He whipped them back on and peered at the words. His heart skipped a beat._

_"__**BAD WOLF**__" it read. Behind that door were her memories of the knowledge she gained when she looked into the TARDIS and vice versa. He suppressed the surge of sudden curiosity that he felt, forcing his hands by his sides to keep them from pulling out his sonic screwdriver and unlocking the door to see exactly what happened to Rose on the GameStation. He shook his head and continued down the hallway._

John looked from the still forms of the Doctor and Rose to Jack, with a raised eyebrow. Occasionally the Doctor would mumble something, but otherwise it was quiet.

"You think we should've told him that we could've opened up her memories by ourselves? Auntie Pheonix said it would be the easiest way," John asked Jack.

"You didn't even tell me that. When did she tell you?" Jack asked him. John wrinkled his nose.

"I didn't? Huh. Thought I did. She told us that the last time she visited from the alternate universe."

"Oh I remember that!" Gwen smiled. "That was when she beat the crap out of Uncle Luke with a fly-swatter!"

_The Doctor stood at a crossroad of hallways, scratching his head confusedly. This was one thing he didn't like about looking through people's memories; the older the person was the more halls there were containing memories. There were also more halls than he expected, but that was due to the fact there were two years of memories hidden somewhere in here._

_"Hi Dad!"_

_The Doctor yelped and whirled around, his mouth dropping open as he saw John standing behind him, a strange half-smile on his face and a bag of jelly babies in his hand. The Doctor's mouthed worked up and down wordlessly for a moment before a coherent sentence came out._

_"What are you doing here?!" he shouted at the boy. John shrugged and popped a jelly baby in his mouth._

_"Got bored waiting for you. Wanted to see what was taking so long,"_

_The Doctor groaned quietly to himself. The boy was definitely related to him. He seemed to have that small sparkle of mischief in his eyes, that sparkle that seemed to be with the Doctor since he was a Time Tot on Gallifrey. The Doctor suddenly realized he had conflicting emotions about the two children. On the one hand, he wanted desperately to reject their claims he was their father. He knew that one day they would die and stay deceased. He didn't know if they were part human or full human or what; there hadn't been any Time Lord hybrids in all of history, so he didn't know what the extent of their abilities were._

_On the other hand, he was thrilled at the aspect that he could be a father to the twins with Rose as their mother. Yes, there was the slight downer that Rose would end up dying, and he would end up raising them by himself, but he raised Susan by himself, so it wouldn't be _that _hard. Would it? In the meantime, he decided to at least be friendly to them. _

_"I'm looking for any signs that there are repressed memories in here," John opened his mouth to ask something, but the Doctor answered before he got the chance. "Yes, you can come with me, but __**don't touch anything**__."_

_The Doctor turned around to peer at the other hallways, and heard John snort loudly. He turned back around and looked at the smiling boy._

_"Telling me not to touch anything is like telling Uncle Jack not to flirt with every new person he sees."_

_"Point taken. Well, stay next to me and __**try **__not to touch anything."_

_With an inward sigh, he started down a hall as John bounced to his side with a large smile plastered on his face. This was going to take a while..._


	12. Bananas Are Good

-falls over- It's been so long! And I apologize profusely for that. This was one of those chapters that was half typed for who-knows-how-long with one of those endings that I wasn't quite sure how to end. Between that, school (I had to sit in the cafeteria from 7:45 to 11:00 this morning for a stupid test. It wouldn't have been so bad if the room wasn't so BLOODY FREEZING COLD!!) and trying to get my little brother to leave me the hell alone, I haven't had as much spare time as I would've liked to work on this.

Anyways, I know this chapter isn't the best one I've written and it probably rushes through something fierce, but it's the best I could come up with at the moment. Like the chapter title? I got tired of "Cardiff Adventures..."

**Disclaimer:** ...I own two lovebirds, a slowly growing collection of Doctor Who DVDs, and 18 mechanical pencils. And pocket lint. Lots and lots of that. And Gwen and John and a number of other characters that will pop up soon enough. Not Doctor Who though...-sigh-

* * *

Gwen sighed again, taking the bag of candy from her still brother and popping a red jelly baby in her mouth. She chewed slowly, thinking over the current situation. What was taking John and the Doctor (she couldn't really think of him as her father for the time being. It felt strange to her.) so long? Surely they would've found and unlocked the repressed memories by now.

"He's lost," John mumbled almost inaudibly. Gwen rolled her eyes. Now she knew where they got their "amazing" sense of direction from. She looked at Jack, who had pulled out a book and was reading it with more concentration than it needed. She hopped over to him.

"You think we should tell him that we know how to get her memories back?" she asked him quietly as John pulled out of his reverie and snatched back his bag of jelly babies. Jack raised an eyebrow, setting the book down.

"I still don't know why you didn't tell _me_," he said, earning a shrug from the twins.

"We forgot," they replied simultaneously. Jack's look was one of total disbelief. "Retcon." John added as an afterthought.

"I highly doubt that you Retconned yourselves-"

"Nonono! Auntie Pheonix said that the right amount of Retcon would cancel out the fake memories and reveal the real ones..." John explained.

"...And bam (or boom. Whatever tickles your fancy) she's got her memories of us back and the fake memories become hidden." Gwen finished. Jack stared at them.

"Did she happen to tell you exactly how much to give her?" he asked. There was total silence in the room. John and Gwen shared a look and shook their heads. Jack sighed.

"Of _course _she didn't. I'm surprised that she's been able to remember her name all these years..."

* * *

_The Doctor heaved a sigh, looking away from one of the doors containing one of Rose's memories. John had disappeared, and he was getting nowhere on the search for the hidden memories. It was time to give it a rest, and resume later. He closed his eyes, and let himself pull away from her mind..._

* * *

The Doctor lifted his hands from Rose's temples, watching her as her eyes fluttered open, glazed and unfocused. She blinked a few times and the alertness came back. She offered him a small smile and he gave her a quick kiss in return, earning a noise of disgust from both of the twins. In return, the Doctor gave them a quick glare.

"No luck?" Gwen asked, an innocent smile on her face. John snickered behind his hand, earning another glare from the Doctor. He cleared his throat.

"No, no luck. I'm going to try again tomorrow. Spending too much time in someone else's head could cause some serious repercussions," he sighed. Jack looked pointedly at the two children, who stared back at him.

"Is there something you want to tell him?" Jack asked lightly, nodding at the Doctor. Gwen shook her head.

"Nah. I'm good..."

"Gweneth..." Jack said warningly, his gaze hardening a bit. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine. We kinda sorta know an easier way for the memories to be unearthed quick and safe," she said. The Doctor and Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" they asked. John shrugged.

"Retcon," he answered, earning a snicker from his sister and a roll of the eyes from Jack. "If we give her a certain amount of Retcon, it's amnesiac properties will cancel out the fake memories and (hopefully) reveal the other ones..."

"...only problem is," Gwen continued, "We don't know exactly how much will work. Auntie Pheonix didn't really tell us, she was too busy trying to kill Luke with her flyswatter..."

"Pheonix?" the Doctor interrupted, his eyes wide. Could it be?

"She's the nice Time Lady that helped Mummy and us cross the Void and get here. She comes to visit every once in a while," John answered. The Doctor blinked.

"There are Time Lords in the other universe?" he asked unbelievably. John nodded his head so enthusiastically that the others were surprised that it didn't fly off his shoulders.

"Yep! But we've only met two: Pheonix and Koschei. Koschei was a bit of a git though, I don't really like him..."

The Doctor stared at them. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the door to the office swinging open with the doorknob ramming into his ribs. Martha had her hand on the doorknob, eyes wide in a look akin to surprise. Jack glared at her.

"Knock Martha!" Martha mouthed a sorry and closed the door, knocking once before opening it again. The Doctor groaned as the doorknob hit him again.

"Jack, the TARDIS just landed in the middle of the dining room," she said, her eyes still wide. The Doctor cleared his throat.

"That's impossible," he stated, gently touching the area on his side where he was sure a bruise was going to appear later. "Nobody's in there to pilot her."

"Well, it's here," Martha shrugged. "Just thought I'd let you know."

The Doctor gently pushed Martha to the side and stepped outside Jack's office, blinking in confusion as he saw the TARDIS tucked away in a corner of the "dining room". It looked fairly innocent sitting there, which made the Doctor kind of worried. What had made her do that?

He walked over and placed a hand on the warm wooden door. She hummed happily under his hand, which, for some reason, worried him a bit more. What was going on? Was today "Confuse and Surprise the Hell Outta the Doctor Day"? After all, he'd never been more confused and surprised in his entire 900-some-odd-year life than he had in this one day! His thoughts were interrupted by whispering.

"Is that the TARDIS?"

"Yep."

"...It doesn't look too impressive..."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. Gwen, of course. Where did she get her attitude from? It certainly wasn't him...Was it? He opened the door and stepped inside. The lights brightened as Rose, Jack, and the twins walked in behind him, the twins gasping. The Doctor waited for the comment on the size.

"...It looks like a giant mushroom." they stated simultaneously. Rose and Jack started cracking up as the Doctor rolled his eyes at them. Gwen and John walked around the room, eyes wide and mouths slightly open in amazement. She continued the happy humming, and the Doctor walked over to the controls. Immediately, he had a child at each elbow, watching him intensely.

"...Yes?" the Doctor asked. John looked up at him, eyes wide full of wonder.

"What're you gonna do?" he asked, earning a raised eyebrow from the Doctor. He sighed pointed to the monitor that he was looking at.

"I'm checking to see how much fuel we have. You see, the TARDIS soaks up the energy that the Rift bleeds out, the radiation and so forth. The filters run, transforming the radiation and etcetera to energy used to power the machine-" the TARDIS threw some sparks at him from the controls. "Sorry. Energy used to power _her_. I haven't been here very long, but she seems to have enough energy to move herself from outside to in here, so..." John and his sister listened with wide eyes, taking in every word.

Rose stood next to Jack off to the side, watching the Doctor talk to the twins. Now that she got a good look, they did look like him. Both of him. Gwen looked like him when she very first met him, while John looked him after he regenerated. She felt the TARDIS brush up against her mind, feeling pure joy and excitement coming from it. Rose felt a smile come to her face, feelings of joy in her own heart as well.

* * *

Martha glared at the closed and locked doors of the TARDIS. What was the big idea locking her out of the TARDIS?! Alright, he's back with his 'soul mate', he's just met his kids with said 'soul mate' and they would most likely want to talk, but...he locked her out of the TARDIS! That was just wrong!

"Stop sulking, Martha," Ianto said as he stood next to her. He'd changed suits and sent the coffee soaked one to the cleaners. Martha glared at him, about to snap back "I wasn't sulking!" but she knew she was. Ianto continued talking. "It's only natural that Johnathan and Gweneth's parents want to spend some time with them alone."

"Ianto, their father didn't know they existed and their mother has no recollection of them. And if they wanted to spend time alone, why did they let Jack in there?" Her answer was a small shrug. She spent the next few minutes glaring at the doors of the TARDIS with her arms crossed, kind of hoping that if she glared long enough and hard enough, they would open and let her in. No such luck. In fact, Martha had the feeling like the blue box was mocking her!

Martha's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash and a blur race past her, a blur that looked incredibly like Luke, and dove underneath the table with a loud thud. She blinked while Ianto snickered.

"Luke?" she asked the huddled mass of clothes under the table. There was a shuffle and Luke poked his head just far enough out so she could see his scared face. He was shaking like a chihuahua.

"Yes?" he whispered quietly. Martha raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

"Hiding," he stated. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's kind of obvious,"

"If it was obvious what I was doing, why did you ask?"

"_Why _are you hiding?" Martha rephrased her question. Luke blinked.

"_**She**'s _here." he answered, scooting back further under the table.

"Who's..." Martha began to ask, but was interrupted by an incredibly loud noise akin to ripping fabric. It reverberated through the Hub, causing a few things to fall off some of the desks. It quieted down, just long enough for Martha and Ianto to look at each other with disbelief. They opened their mouthes to say something, but were (once again) interrupted by another voice.

"**SHE'S GONE**!"


	13. Meet the Alt Pheonix

I'm back! Yep, listening to music nonstop for weeks and weeks and weeks on end have gotten me off of my writer's block and out of the Void of Imagination. Sadly, I have pulled someone else into it. And she has set a Chibi!Joker on me. It's a good thing that Ermintrude's not a picky eater...

**Disclaimer: I only own Davenport!Eleven, Alt!Pheonix, Gwen and John. Not the show. .**

* * *

The Doctor and Jack ushered the twins out as Rose went to bed, after a weak argument with the Doctor about her having a long day and needing rest (and her losing said argument.) What was he going to do? The Doctor honestly had no idea what to do about the (_his_, his two previous selves interjected) children. What _could _he do? Traveling with he and Rose in the TARDIS was almost out of the question (all of his previous selves agreed), but simply leaving them here in Torchwood with Jack and Martha and the others was almost as bad!

"Oh no...." Jack mumbled the second they stepped outside the TARDIS doors. The Doctor blinked as the twins gave little gasps of surprise and tore away from them.

"Auntie Pheonix!" The woman that they were running to turned, her eyes widening in surprise as the twins tackled her. She looked stunning, to put it simply. Her brightly dyed red, orange, and yellow hair was put up in a twist similar to Martha's, looking like a stylized flame. Her light blue turtle-sweater clung snugly to her body, stopping an inch above her olive jeans.

For some strange reason, she seemed so familiar to the Doctor. She reminded him of someone, someone he used to know a long time ago, but the name was on the tip of his tongue! She looked at the Doctor, and he saw her dark maroon eyes. They stood there, staring at each other for a minute.

"Auntie Pheonix! Do you know who this is?" John tugged at the woman's sleeve. Pheonix raised an eyebrow, keeping eye contact with the Doctor.

"No, I don't. Why don't you two introduce us?" she said, her voice amused. Her eyes seemed to be searching the Doctor, as if she were trying to figure out what he was. John's grin widened.

"This is the Doctor!" he said. Pheonix blinked, looking from Gwen, to John, to Jack, and to the Doctor, before repeating. A disbelieving smile tugged at her lips.

"Is that so?" she tilted her head "...He doesn't look like much."

~*~

Rose stares at the ceiling of her old room in the TARDIS, covers pulled up to chin and hands behind her head. Her eyes felt incredibly heavy, but she couldn't sleep. So much was going through her mind, so many thoughts, so much activity was going on in her head that her brain wouldn't allow her body to rest.

Were those children really hers? How? It's true the girl looked kind of like her but...how? They looked more like the Doctor than anything but, once again, how? It was just...weird. Actually, "weird" didn't even begin to cover any of the bases. It was just...something! Rose gave a frustrated sigh as she rubbed her eyes (nearly poking one out in the process.) She knew she was tired, and she wanted to sleep, but she just couldn't stop thinking!

The TARDIS sent calming feelings to Rose's mind, helping her mind settle so she could sleep. Rose mumbled a quiet thanks before slipping into a peaceful sleep. Once she was in a deep enough sleep, the TARDIS entered her sub-conscious, setting out to find what the Doctor could not.

~*~

Pheonix sat at the table across from the Doctor, continuing to watch him intently. He was charming, in a round-about sort of way. His green eyes were gorgeous, but who in their right mind would wear a blue suit with a multi-colored, marbled waistcoat and checkered tie like those? He almost reminded her of an actor she worked with in the other universe when the High Council wasn't too pleased with her (how was she to know that the President was allergic to earth tulips? His regeneration didn't look that bad...) when she was posing as a historian. She got good pay for that pirate movie...

The Doctor kept careful eye-contact with Pheonix, digging through the archives of his memory to recall who it was she looked like. It was about to drive him mad! They had called her Auntie Pheonix, so her name was Pheonix? His hearts thudded in his chest as he recalled something John had said earlier.

_"Yep! But we've only met two: Pheonix and Koschei. Koschei was a bit of a git though, I don't really like him..."_

"So..." Pheonix finally broke the silence. "You're the Doctor."

"Yes I am. And you are...?"

"They call me Pheonix."

It finally clicked in the Doctor's head. That's why this woman looked so familiar. She was the alternate version of the Pheonix that he knew a long, long time ago, back when he was what human's termed a "teenager". He was on her hit-list when he left Gallifrey. If she was the alternate Pheonix, then did that mean that Koschei...

"So, you're the Terrible Two's father. I'm guessing that they take after your previous bodies?" she asked lightly. The Doctor was slightly shocked at how casually she talked about regenerations, but then remembered that she herself was a Time Lady. He nodded.

"My ninth and tenth, yep," he nodded. Pheonix's eyes widened in a mix between surprise and alarm.

"What body are you on?!"

"Eleven. I seem to run through them rather quickly, but one regeneration wasn't my fault. It was the High Council that forced it before banishing me to Earth for a while."

"Really? That happened to you too? What'd you do?"

"Just some 'interfering'. Total bollocks. They were out to get me. Why? What'd you do?"

"Accidentally killed the President," she shrugged. The Doctor stared at her. "I didn't know he was allergic to Earth tulips!"

~*~

_A non-existent breeze fluttered through the old-but-young woman's white hair, her pale skin contrasting harshly against her flowing blue robes. The woman smiled, wrinkles appearing at the corner of her mouth as she looked at the chained door before her. She took a step closer, and the golden chains shimmered._

_The old woman held up a hand and touched a delicate finger to the large lock on front of the door. It disintegrated into golden dust, the golden chains fading away once the lock was gone. There was a large and echoing click, followed by many more faint clicks as more unseen doors unlocked themselves._

_The TARDIS's smile grew as she heard a faint wolf's howl behind the door._

_The Bad Wolf was awake..._

~*~

The Doctor discovered that this Alternate Pheonix wasn't that different from himself. They were both travelers, banished from their planets at a young age, and know-it-alls. She even loved jelly babies for Rassilon's sake! As much as she was like him, he couldn't help but be amazed at how much of a polar opposite she was to the Pheonix he knew when he was younger. _She _was fierce, aggressive, brilliant, loud...almost like Donna Noble (except for the fact that Donna wasn't over nine thousand years old.)

They talked for hours into the night, each telling stories to entertain the twins and opening up to each other. The Doctor was quickly falling in love with the two five-year-olds. Why shouldn't he? They were his children after all. His previous uneasiness was gone, and he had accepted them as his own.

The Torchwood team had left for their homes earlier, and Jack left for his office with the following words of departure: "If you keep me awake with your talking, I'm gonna find out exactly how many regenerations you people have." (To which Pheonix joked that he was acting like he was on a period, earning laughs from the Doctor, a glare from Jack, and confused looks from the twins.)

Pheonix had finished telling them a story involving her escape from an angry family of Badgermoles on some planet ("I now know that they do not like sonic noises at all.") She suddenly had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Doctor?" she asked to get his attention.

"Yes?"

"Did Jack show you their medical scans?" she nodded her head at John and Gwen to show who she was talking about. The Doctor nodded.

"Did you happen to notice anything..._interesting _about them?" There was a strange twinkle in her eyes. The Doctor blinked. Interesting? Besides the fact that they were his children?

"No...Not really. I was in a bit of shock to the simple fact that they were my children. Why?" Pheonix shook her head. The corners of her mouth were ever-so-slightly tilted up.

"I won't tell. I don't like ruining surprises," she shrugged. Both of the twins and the Doctor were looking at her with raised eyebrows. John cast a quick look at the Doctor, biting his lip.

"Dad?" he asked. The Doctor looked at him automatically, surprising himself at how quickly he responded to them.

"Yes?" John started pulling on his ear, a motion the Doctor recognized. After all, he did that quite a lot in various lives.

"Gwen and I were wondering...Could we come with you and Mum?" John's brown eyes were alight with hope. Gwen's gaze was lowered, focused on her shoes. Pheonix looked at him with a raised eyebrow. They were watching the Doctor, waiting for his answer. He had kind of hoped that they wouldn't ask. After all, it was too dangerous.

_You would refuse them just because it was dangerous?_

The Doctor's eyes widened in alarm as he heard Pheonix's voice drift through his mind. Pheonix smiled.

_Just because your mental shields are raised in this dimension doesn't mean that one from a different dimension could easily slip in through a crack. I'm a ninja like that._

The Doctor glared at her, raising his mental barriers until he couldn't feel her presence anymore. She narrowed her eyes in irritation, but said nothing. The Doctor sighed. He honestly didn't know what the right answer was. He wanted them to come with him, but he didn't want to endanger their lives. If something happened to these two children -_his _children- he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

"I would have to talk it over with Rose when she wakes up," he finally sighed. The twins gave identical groans of disappointment. There was a few moments of tense and awkward silence before Peonix's face suddenly screwed up into one of discomfort. The Doctor looked at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Pheonix stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

"What do you mean 'What's wrong'? Didn't you feel...nevermind..." she waved her hand in a way that irked the Doctor to no end. He gave her another glare before he looked back to the twins. They looked at Pheonix, concern and confusion in their eyes. She shot them a look, and their eyes widened. Huge grins then broke over their faces as the looked at the TARDIS, who was humming happily behind them all. The Doctor felt so out of the loop, it wasn't funny.

"What is going on?" he demanded. Pheonix smirked.

"If you let down your mental barriers, you would know Doctor."

He watched her carefully, wondering what she was up to. Why did she want him to lower his sheilds? He didn't ponder the question long, for his curiousity got the better of him. He lowered all barriers to his mind abruptly, and gasped as pain exploded throughout his head. His eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.


End file.
